"New farmer insurance even timelier than help from my son"

16:01, March 31, 2010      
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In 2009, the old people who are over 60 years old in some rural areas began to gradually receive their basic pension.
With the experiment of the new rural insurance implemented in 10 percent of China's counties, the farmers began to receive benefits from the endowment insurance.
It fills a gap in the social security system in China. Did people really receive the benefits? Are all regions ready to expand the experiment ?
On March 26, Zhang Guoping, a villager who lives in Lingxia village, Datuo town, Pingyuan County, Guangdong province received the old-age pension of this month from the Pingyuan branch of the Postal Savings Bank of China.
The elderly Zhang Guoping receives old-age pension on this day every month. He said, "Now I can retire finally!" He is 75 years old. Before that age, he still had to farm since he had no other source of income.
In March of last year, Zhang Guoping, together with other more than one hundred old persons in Pingyuan County who enrolled in the new farmer insurance program, received their first pension of more than 80 yuan.
According to official of the Social Security Department, at first some farmers did not understand when the new rural pension system was launched, because they never heard that farmers can also have the pension.
Now, the farmers' enthusiasm for participating in the insurance continues to rise. More and more villagers have started to act. The farmers are queuing in the Postal Savings Bank of China. By the end of last year, Pingyuan County has completed 106 percent of the insurance attending object, and more than 70,000 people attended the new farmer's insurance.
In the 14 counties (districts) in Guangdong province where the experiment took place, nearly 3.8 million farmers has been integrated into the old-age security system, making up 10 percent of the farmers in Guangdong province who are in line with the conditions of attending insurance. According to the plan, by 2020, this new farmer's insurance will cover all the farmers in Guangdong.
The happiest thing for a Mr. Li, an elderly farmer living in Panyu Shilou County, is to check his bankbook for the new farmer insurance. He receives 330 yuan of pensions every month. Now, Mr. Li not only has money for his living expenses, but also a lot of "pocket money." "New farmer insurance is even timelier than the help from my son," he said.
"If I pay 100 yuan every year, after the age of 60, I can receive more than one thousand of old-age pension every year," said Mr. Zhang, a farmer of Chaiozhu town, Pingyuan County. Zhang said that when trial period for the new farmer insurance started in March last year, he held a wait-and-see attitude at that time and didn't participate in the insurance. However, Mr. Zhang found that the elderly in his village lived on the pension every month after enrolling in the insurance, he began to regret.
With the advance of new farmer's insurance, many farmers in Guangdong can begin to lead a happy retired life.
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