BEIJING: Taikang Life Insurance Co will invest 100 billion yuan (US$15.6 billion) in the next five to eight years in elderly-care communities and affiliated hospitals as China’s population ages, which is set to become a “significant social problem.”
On Saturday, the insurer started its first self-invested hospital next to its elderly residential community in Beijing, and it revealed that the company will launch similar projects in Shanghai and Guangzhou next year.
When completed, the elderly-care communities in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou will respectively house 3,000, 2,000, and 1,100 residents.
Having already invested more than 5 billion yuan in these projects, Taikang Life is prepared to channel over 100 billion yuan into the elderly-care business over the next 5-8 years.
Chen Dongsheng, chairman and CEO of Taikang Life, said “we are committed to the elderly-care sector as a long-term business with stable cashflow.
“Elderly care and medical services will be the most significant social problem as China becomes an aging society, and we have a population of relatively wealthy people in need of high-end products and services.”
Land has also been set aside in Sanya, Wuhan, and Chengdu for new projects which are set to start operation by 2020, Chen added.
So far, 10 other insurance companies have invested over 70 billion yuan in the elder-care business.
