China”s medical insurance coverage reforms that channel a part of funds from workers’ particular person accounts to public accounts to assist develop reimbursement for outpatient prices are aimed toward enhancing the healthcare safety of the general public and boosting environment friendly use of medical insurance coverage funds, an knowledgeable stated on Saturday.
“The change is just not prompted by a sudden impulse,” stated Wang Chaoqun, a Professor at Central China Regular College’s Faculty of Public Administration in Wuhan, Hubei province.
The central management had first proposed in 2020 to reform particular person medical insurance coverage accounts and set up a mutual support mechanism for outpatient expenditures. In April 2021, a suggestion issued by the State Council, China’s cupboard, laid out extra particular reform measures, based on Wang.
“Actually, the 2010 Legislation on Social Insurance coverage doesn’t embody stipulations on workers’ particular person accounts as a result of at the moment, officers and specialists had already begun contemplating long-term reforms,” he stated. “Which means the nation has been deliberating, drafting and making ready for the reforms for a very long time.”
China’s medical insurance coverage system for workers was formally applied in 1998, and has performed a key function in facilitating the nation’s transition from a deliberate financial system to a socialist market financial system.
Through the years, Wang stated all reforms made to the system are aimed toward enhancing the healthcare safety stage of the general public and growing effectivity of China’s medical insurance coverage funds.
“Every nation ought to devise medical insurance coverage primarily based on their very own nationwide situation, together with historical past, inhabitants and gaps between totally different areas,” he stated. “For China, the problem lies in satisfying the calls for of an enormous inhabitants residing in huge areas with uneven growth.”
Concerning the resilience of China’s medical funds, Wang stated {that a} becoming instance is its response to the COVID-19 epidemic.
“The COVID-19 nucleic acid assessments, therapy and vaccines are all free for the general public. Such prices have been reimbursed by monetary authorities and healthcare funds collectively, and there’s no doubt that the nation’s healthcare safety and monetary programs have been important in serving to us prevailing over the virus,” he stated.
