China will put into place "a more equitable and sustainable" social insurance scheme which covers all citizens in the next five years, said a document issued by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Tuesday.
The social insurance premium rates will be reduced, according to CPC's proposals on formulating the 13th five-year plan (2016-2020) for national economic and social development.
The CPC also vowed that China will implement the critical illness insurance system at "full scale," which covers both urban and rural residents in the proposed plan.
Aiming for higher investment returns, the government will expand investment channels for social security funds and intensify risk control, the document said.
Nearly 200 million Chinese have yet to be included in the country's senior insurance scheme, official figures show. At the end of September 2014, about 650 million of the 1.3 billion Chinese were covered by critical illness insurance, preventing them from bankruptcy as a result of medical bills.
In addition, the government will raise the proportion of earnings from state assets which should be turned over to public finance and transfer part of state assets to enrich the social insurance funds, according to the document.
The government will also gradually postpone its statutory retirement age, it said.
