If an elder at home is bedbound long term or severely disabled, apply for long-term care insurance at the yibao office where they are enrolled; it is not paid only to the elderly

Long-term care insurance pays care-service fees and generally does not pay cash directly. If someone at home is severely disabled and has been so for half a year or more, apply at the yibao office where they are enrolled. Care fees have no deductible (起付线), so reimbursement is not held back until a set amount has been paid first. Employee enrollees get about 70% back. Urban and rural resident enrollees get about 50% back. Bed fees and meal fees are not covered. The document sets no age floor. A young person with severe disability can apply too.

Cost

Submit an application at the yibao office where the person is enrolled (医保 — basic medical insurance). Then have a disability-level assessment. If they pass on the first assessment, the fund pays the assessment fee. You do not pay it yourself.

Benefit

Long-term care service fees that meet the rules have no deductible (起付线). A deductible is a sum you pay yourself before reimbursement starts. Here you do not pay that sum first. People enrolled under the employee policy are reimbursed by the fund at about 70%. People enrolled under the policy for urban and rural residents who are not employed are reimbursed at about 50%. The most that can be paid in a year (the annual payment cap (年度最高支付限额)) is no more than 50% of the previous year's per-capita disposable income of urban and rural residents in the local pooling area. The people who can receive benefits are those who are enrolled and paying as required, whose disability has generally lasted more than 6 months, and who pass an assessment after they apply. At the start, severe disability is covered first. The document sets no age floor. A person under 18 who is not working is enrolled with their parents and, if eligible, receives benefits at the urban and rural resident rate. The fund mainly pays care institutions and care workers. In principle it does not pay cash directly to the disabled person. Institutional bed fees, meal fees, and other charges that are not care are not paid by the fund.

Notes

Disability must be "long-term and continuous (generally 6 months or more)." A few weeks in hospital is not enough to apply. If the person was not enrolled when the local program started and enrolled later, or enrolled again after a gap in payment, there is a waiting period before benefits, in principle 6 months. Bed fees, meal fees, and other charges that are not care are not paid by long-term care insurance. Medical costs that yibao should pay are not paid by long-term care insurance either. Someone already receiving a work-injury living-care benefit does not receive this on top. This money and the care subsidy inside the two disability subsidies (两项补贴) are two procedures and two sums of money. They do not conflict. See section 7, item 8 (the two subsidies). Care at home and in the community gets a more favorable reimbursement rate. The person does not have to move into an institution. The program is rolling out place by place, and the disability assessment standards differ. Call 12393 first, or the medical insurance handler where the person is enrolled, and ask whether it has started locally and how to book an assessment. If the assessment fails, do not give up. Apply again after the disability gets worse.

Sources · 1

1. 国家医保局等八部门 (2026). 关于印发《加快建立长期护理保险制度实施方案》的通知. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202603/content_70639…：保障对象为「按规定参保缴费且失能状态长期持续（一般为6个月以上），经申请通过评估认定的失能人员」，「制度起步阶段保障重度失能人员」；「待遇享受不设起付标准。符合规定的长期护理服务费用，按未就业城乡居民参保政策参保的，基金支付比例为50%左右；按单位职工参保政策参保的，基金支付比例为70%左右，退休人员享受单位职工参保待遇」；「参保人员基金年度最高支付限额不超过统筹地区上年度城乡居民人均可支配收入的50%」；「除新生儿等特殊群体外，对未在当地长期护理保险制度启动时初次参保，以及中断缴费后再次参保的情形，应制定待遇享受等待期……待遇享受固定等待期原则上按照6个月设置」；「对机构床位费、膳食费等非护理服务费用以及应由医疗保险支付的医疗费用，基金不予支付」；「原则上不直接向失能人员发放现金」；另见中共中央办公厅、国务院办公厅《关于加快建立长期护理保险制度的意见》. gov.cn/gongbao/2026/issue_12666/202604/conten…