Scope: money and personal freedom. When you have elderly family at home, most trouble is not running out of money. It is failing to talk things through and get papers signed in advance. Pressure ulcers from long-term bed rest, cataract surgery, fractures from an elder walking a dog, and a hospital check when memory gets worse: these four are counted in mortality terms and are not compared with the other entries in this section.
English, Russian and Spanish use dlgrv’s unofficial translations. Newly revised entries appear in the Chinese original until a checked translation is available. The author’s latest Chinese text is authoritative. Translation revision: dlgrv/HowToLiveBetter · b25fa8a
While the elder's mind is still clear, spend a few hundred yuan at a notary office on a written document that names who will be their guardian later. Without that document, once they cannot decide for themselves, the order set by law applies: spouse first, then parents and children, then other close relatives. If the family fights over it, the residents' committee (居委会), the villagers' committee (村委会), the civil affairs bureau (民政), or a court names the guardian.
Cost
It costs only a few hundred yuan to have a notarized docum…
Benefit
The Civil Code (民法典) says an adult who is clear-headed and can decide for themselves (in law, an adult with fu…
The law recognizes 6 kinds of will, and each kind has steps that must be completed. The kind you write yourself must be written by the person from start to finish, signed, and dated with the year, month, and day. If several wills conflict, the last one controls. From 2021, a notarized will no longer automatically ranks ahead of the others.
Cost
Writing a will by hand costs nothing. Having it notarized…
Benefit
The Civil Code (民法典) recognizes 6 forms of will: written by the person, written by someone else at their reque…
People who scam elders often start with small gifts and warm concern, build up trust, then take a large sum. They also often say "do not tell anyone." Agree on a rule in advance: spending above a set amount has to be mentioned to a specific person first. Then the family knows before the money goes out, and the decision to pay is pushed back.
Cost
This costs nothing. You only need to discuss it once with…
Benefit
In 2022 the Supreme People's Procuratorate (最高检) released typical elder-fraud cases. It said these crimes firs…
Sales pitches and fraud rely on pressure on the spot, so you pay before you have time to think. Once emotions are stirred up, people are more eager to buy what exaggerated ads are selling, and elders are more eager to buy than younger people. Agree with the elder in advance on the line “I need to go home and talk with my family.” They can say it at any time, have a way to step back on the spot, and decide after they cool down at home.
Cost
No cost at all. It only takes a few minutes to discuss thi…
Benefit
Sales pitches and scams rely on immediate pressure. The US Federal Trade Commission's fraud guide says scammer…
Elder-care labels that make the elder pay first and promise a return are all the same scam. Common ones are buying a card, buying a bed, buying an elder apartment, travel elder care, and selling elder products at a meeting. Under the rules, if this money is lost, you can only bear it yourself. A reported case took 136000000 yuan by pre-booking beds in an elder apartment and harmed more than 2100 people.
Cost
No cost at all. Simply read the following list of common t…
Benefit
The Ministry of Civil Affairs (民政部) lists five forms. Recognizing the label is more reliable than recognizing…
The only legitimate housing-for-pension arrangement is insurers’ housing reverse mortgage insurance (住房反向抵押养老保险), and it is still a pilot. The “housing-for-pension” that scammers describe is unrelated to it: they trick the elder into mortgaging the house, then using the borrowed money to buy the wealth products they recommend. Some people did not even know the house had been mortgaged. In the end the house was gone and they still owed the loan.
Cost
There’s no cost involved. Keep your property deed in your…
Benefit
The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission’s Consumer Protection Bureau clearly distinguishes betwe…
Long-term care insurance pays care-service fees and generally does not pay cash directly. If someone at home is severely disabled and has been so for half a year or more, apply at the yibao office where they are enrolled. Care fees have no deductible (起付线), so reimbursement is not held back until a set amount has been paid first. Employee enrollees get about 70% back. Urban and rural resident enrollees get about 50% back. Bed fees and meal fees are not covered. The document sets no age floor. A young person with severe disability can apply too.
Cost
You only need to visit the local yibao office once to subm…
Benefit
Long-term care service fees that meet the rules have no deductible (起付线). A deductible is a sum you pay yourse…
Older adults who already had pressure ulcers before hip-fracture surgery died more often within 30 days, but this does not mean preventing pressure ulcers reduces deaths. Electric air mattresses reduced new ulcers by about 60%. In the ICU, sensor reminders that ensured timely turning reduced them by about 70%. Check the sacrum, heels, hips, shoulders and back daily; if redness does not fade under pressure, contact a nurse or doctor that day.
Cost
Electric alternating-pressure air mattresses for home use…
Benefit
19520 patients who had hip-fracture surgery (U.S. NSQIP, National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, 2016 t…
In women aged 70 or older, prompt first-eye cataract surgery reduced the number of falls over a year by about 34%, but not the number of people who fell. The second-eye trial found no clear difference. Hospitalizations for falls were higher between surgeries than before surgery, so do not delay the second too long. Older people who had surgery had about 2 fewer hip fractures per 1,000 within a year.
Cost
Accompany the older person to ophthalmology once;
Benefit
A randomized trial enrolled 306 women aged 70 or older with cataracts. Half had first-eye surgery within about…
In the United States, fractures among people aged 65 and over while walking a dog were about 1700 in 2004 and about 4400 in 2017. About 80% were women, nearly 30% needed a hospital stay, and by single body site hip fractures were the most common. At a hand-surgery clinic, about three-quarters of patients whose hands were injured by a dog leash were hurt because the leash was wrapped on the hand and the dog pulled. So hold the leash in the palm, keep it short, and train the dog not to lunge forward.
Cost
Holding the leash in the palm and shortening it costs noth…
Benefit
U.S. emergency surveillance data, scaled up to the whole country, counted fractures in people aged 65 and over…
A legitimate nursing home has to register with the civil affairs bureau and sign a written agreement with you. The deposit is at most 12 months of bed fees, and service fees may be collected at most 12 months ahead. The deposit and membership fees must go into a dedicated account the home holds at a bank. If they go over the cap, ask you to transfer to a personal account, or give a receipt and no invoice, do not pay yet.
Cost
No cost. Before signing, call the local county civil affai…
Benefit
The Ministry of Civil Affairs (民政部) measures for the administration of elder-care institutions say that within…
Some provinces set care leave so an only child can look after a parent in hospital, and the number of days differs by province. Henan is at least 20 days a year. Fujian is at most 10 days. Guangdong, when the parent is in hospital, is at most 15 days. Henan states that the leave counts as attendance. Fujian states that wages and benefits stay the same. If the employer refuses or docks pay, Fujian and Guangdong state that you can go to the human resources and social security department.
Cost
No cost. Search the national database of laws and regulati…
Benefit
Provinces put care leave in different local regulations. The Henan Provincial Regulations on the Protection of…
Memory that keeps getting worse is not necessarily just muddled old age. First check for depression, medicines that do not suit them, and poor hearing or vision, causes that can be changed. Very few cases can actually be cured. Among people with dementia, those who truly improve are under 1%. Checking early has another use: while the elder can still decide for themselves, settle who will manage their money and their medical care later.
Cost
A visit to a memory clinic or neurology, with a cognitive…
Benefit
The UK NICE dementia guideline (NG97) requires that, when dementia is suspected, the history be taken from the…
