2015年经济学人 护理保险 前景光明

Care insurance

Forever young

Nobody wants to insure themselves against the cost of end-of-life care

GOOD news for cruise ships: the ranks of the over-65s grew by 1.4m over the past decade. But old age will not be kind to all of them. One in three will develop dementia, around one in six will end up in a nursing or care home and nearly half will need some form of care. Few will have laid plans to pay for it.

The average stay in a nursing home lasts 17 months and costs 57,000 (85,000) according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, a think-tank. People with assets under 23,250 get most of their residential¹ care paid for but everyone else is more-or-less on their own, with the unluckiest facing bills as high as 200,000. Ever-attuned to the plight² of elderly voters, the government is moving to change that. Next year it will put a cap of 72,000 on the sum that a person will have to pay towards care, and will raise the means-testing threshold from 23,250 to 118,000.

The government had hoped that this reform would not just soothe³ elderly nerves but also stimulate⁴ an insurance market for end-of-life care. Unfortunately, that is not happening.

Many people continue to assume, wrongly, that the NHS will pay, says Yvonne Braun from the Association of British Insurers. And most are overly optimistic about their health in old age, underestimating the risks and costs they will suffer. Joan Costa-Font, from the London School of Economics, adds that the idea of care insurance seems to conflict with social values. A kind of familial moral hazard kicks in, as people fear their children will no longer look after them if they are insured.

Care costs are so hard to predict that insurers tend to protect themselves with big premiums⁵, making insurance unaffordable. The government's new cap, which was supposed to sort this out, comes with alarming caveats⁶. It does not include the cost of bed and board, which makes up a large chunk⁷ of care home costs. It is also up to local authorities to determine which care counts towards the cap, meaning people may end up spending more after all. And the cap is higher than the 25,000-50,000 recommended to the government by Andrew Dilnot, an economist⁸ who reviewed the market.

According to the Institute and Faculty⁹ of Actuaries, the real maximum of self-funded costs might be around 140,000. “Like the rest of the industry, we couldn't make it pay,” says Stephen Lowe from Age UK, a charity that also sells insurance.

If a care insurance market fails to materialise, alternatives will be available. Worried middle-aged¹⁰ folk might take out immediate-needs annuities¹¹, which give fixed¹² care payouts for life in return for a lump sum. Some insurers are starting to offer a care element as part of their life-insurance policies. Zurich Insurance, one of Britain's largest insurers, looked into offering care-only insurance but found that people much prefer a guaranteed payout over the “risk” of not needing care and losing their premiums altogether. From next month it will offer a new policy that allows people to withdraw a portion of their life insurance, which normally only pays out at death, as soon as they need care.

From next month much will change for retirees, as the government drops the requirement to buy annuities with private pension pots. The government hopes that people will use the new flexibility¹³ to plan for their old age, including the possibility that their final years will be spent in a nursing home rather than on the Costa del Sol. But Richard Sadler from Zurich points out that most people do not even save enough for retirement—something they are fairly certain will happen and even look forward to. It is less likely they will save for long-term care, which they think and hope they will never need.

1 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

2 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

3 soothe   

v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承

参考例句：

• I've managed to soothe him down a bit.我想方设法使他平静了一点。
• This medicine should soothe your sore throat.这种药会减轻你的喉痛。

4 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

5 premiums   

n.费用( premium的名词复数 )；保险费；额外费用；（商品定价、贷款利息等以外的）加价

参考例句：

• He paid premiums on his life insurance last year. 他去年付了人寿保险费。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Moves are afoot to increase car insurance premiums. 现正在酝酿提高汽车的保险费。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 caveats   

警告

参考例句：

• I would offer a caveat for those who want to join me in the dual calling. 为防止发生误解，我想对那些想要步我后尘的人提出警告。 来自辞典例句
• As I have written before, that's quite a caveat. 正如我以前所写，那确实是个警告。 来自互联网

7 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

8 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

9 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

10 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

11 annuities   

n.养老金；年金( annuity的名词复数 )；（每年的）养老金；年金保险；年金保险投资

参考例句：

• Many companies in this country grant their old employees annuities after they retire. 这个国家的许多公司在老年雇员退休后发给他们养老年金。 来自辞典例句
• Can I interest you in one of our Easter Annuities or IRA accounts? 您对我们的复活节年金保险或者个人退休金帐户有兴趣吗？ 来自电影对白

12 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

13 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。