Insurance extended to retirement age workers

Several governments across China, including those in Shanghai and the provinces of Anhui, Hainan and Hubei, have relaxed age restrictions on the provision of employment injury insurance, according to local government and media reports.

Previous restrictions meant that individuals were not eligible for employment injury insurance after retirement age, even if they chose to continue working.

In Anhui, individuals who were insured against employment injury before reaching the legal retirement age and who are not receiving the basic pension, are now able to continue their employment injury insurance until the age of 65 if they choose to work, according to a recent statement by the province's department of human resources and social security.

Those who did not have employment injury insurance before the legal retirement age and receive no pension can now obtain coverage until they turn 70, the statement said.

For the majority of Chinese people, especially those privately employed, the legal retirement age is 55 for women and 60 for men.

"Many seniors choose to be reemployed after retirement," said Li Yumei, a manufacturing worker from Sichuan province and a deputy to the National People's Congress.

Historically, age restrictions on employment injury insurance placed both the elderly workforce and employers in difficult positions.

In recent years, several NPC deputies, including Li, have put forward proposals to relax age restrictions for employment injury insurance.

Anhui resident Luo Yuanhe discovered how invaluable this could be after being injured in his work as a doorman post-retirement. Unable to secure employment injury insurance coverage, the medical costs associated with Luo's injury were only partially covered by his employer.

"If he had insurance, the situation would've been much better," said Li Yuping, Luo's daughter-in-law.

The new regulation took effect in Anhui on Oct 24.

Shanghai and Hainan have also extended their employment injury insurance coverage until the age of 65, regardless of gender, while Hubei has granted options to employers to provide insurance coverage for employees older than the legal retirement age, according to media reports.