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Policy Address | The government advocates relaxing the vetting of the elderly living allowance, sandwiched elders lament that they are still "nothing"

2021-10-06T20:37:30.261Z


The Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, issued the last policy address of the current government this morning (6th). The report recommends that the ordinary and high elderly living allowances be merged in the second half of next year. Elderly people who are receiving ordinary allowances are welcome.


The Chief Executive Carrie Lam issued the last policy address of the current government this morning (6th). The report recommends the combination of ordinary and high elderly living allowances in the second half of next year. Elderly people who are receiving ordinary allowances welcome the decision, but there are rental accommodations. Elders living alone in private buildings claim that their assets just exceed the eligibility for the elderly allowance. They are worried that they will use up all their savings in seven to eight years. They can only save money and eat. They laugh at themselves, "I am an aunt who has children and grandchildren. The lonely and widowed "Hundred Nothing"."


Carrie Lam went to the Legislative Council to read the policy address.

(Photo by Luo Junhao)

In her policy address this morning, Carrie Lam said that she plans to combine the existing ordinary and high-rate elderly allowances in the second half of next year, and adopt a more relaxed asset review ceiling. Eligible elderly people can receive a high allowance of $3,815 per month.

At present, to apply for the high long-term elderly living allowance, the maximum asset limit for single applicants cannot exceed $159,000, the maximum limit for couples applicants cannot exceed $241,000, the maximum asset limit for single applicants for general allowances does not exceed $365,500, and couple applicants do not exceed $554,000.

The 67-year-old mother-in-law Liang, after retiring from a private company seven years ago, took a pension of more than 700,000 yuan. Since there is no self-occupied unit, most of her singles have no children and can only rent privately. However, rents have been rising in the past ten years.

She once tried to rent a 120-sq. ft. unit in Tai Po for $5,800. However, the cramped environment aggravated her depression, and she had auditory hallucinations. She moved out after living for two years and rented it in the current Yau Ma Tei for $6,300 For flats, the landlord basically increases the rent every two years when the contract is over, and the rent has been increased to $7,000.

67-year-old single mother-in-law's savings exceed the upper limit of assets to subsidize living expenses

Even if she is over 65, she can apply for the elderly living allowance, but Granny Liang said that her assets just exceeded the asset limit, and she was under 70 to apply for the fruit grant. In disguise, she has to spend part of her savings every month to subsidize living expenses, so she can only be as frugal as possible.

"Monthly living expenses, including utilities, are limited to 5,000 yuan. I don’t use air-conditioning all the year round. The last time I went out to eat was three years ago. I am an aunt who has children and grandchildren. The widows and loneliness who have not applied for "Hundred Nothing"." She lamented that the elderly have no income and can only rely on savings for the rest of their lives. It just so happens that elderly people like her have completely fallen out of the social security safety net, worrying about getting older and increasing medical expenses. If there is no allowance, it will quickly run out of savings.

Another 78-year-old mother-in-law Li lives in a tenement house with two sons. One son is unemployed after the epidemic, and the other son is a computer maintenance worker. His income is not high and he can only support himself. The burden of family expenses is in disguise. Fell on her.

She said that she could barely make ends meet as a cleaner and carpenter before, but her physical strength deteriorated rapidly last year and she can no longer go out to work. However, she has saved more than 200,000 yuan for her monthly family court expenses, which is as high as several thousand yuan. Supported by savings, she is currently receiving an ordinary elderly living allowance of $2,845, and hopes that after the asset limit is relaxed, she can receive a high allowance to help her livelihood.

"It's nearly $1000 per month, and it can at least help buy up the food. Even if Yijia is a food company, it will cost more than 100 yuan for three people a day."

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Social Association: In the long run, a universal surrender should be established

Social Association Secretary Wu Weidong said that he welcomes the government's decision to standardize the qualifications for the elderly living allowance and relax the asset ceiling, but believes that there are still "sandwich" elderly people who do not enjoy any benefits such as fruit grants or elderly living allowances, and life annuities are not enough to subsidize the elderly. For monthly living expenses, it is recommended that the government should refer to Professor Zhou Yongxin’s proposal that year to establish a universal retirement protection system that is exempt from means test, three-party contributions by labor and management officials, and through the increase in the collection of profits tax on consortiums. This can avoid the government alone supporting the entire elderly welfare expenditure. It can also provide the public with more comprehensive retirement protection.

Policy Address | The full text of Carrie Lam's final policy address, 10 chapters, approximately 34,000 words, with an onion at the end

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Source: hk1

All news articles on 2021-10-06

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