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China Plans Universal Healthcare
April 8, 2009
China plans to bring basic healthcare to all
Jane Macartney in Beijing
Healthcare is the No.1 concern among Chinese, ranking above security, education and even employment. Now the Government has unveiled a 10-year plan aimed at bringing affordable medical services to even the poorest farmer and calming rising public anger.
The plan has been several years in the drafting and full details have yet to be made public. However, the Government says it will invest 850 billion yuan (£85 billion) between 2009 and 2011 to bring equitable healthcare to 90 per cent of China’s 1.3 billion people.
A government document said: “By 2020, China will have a basic healthcare system that can provide safe, effective, convenient and affordable health services to urban and rural residents. The core principle of the reform is to provide basic health care as a 'public service' to the people, which requires much more government funding and supervision."
The goal seems to be to eradicate a system in which only the rich, city residents or those employed by government organisations had any hope of access to affordable medical services. China’s 700 million or so farmers often chose to stay at home to die rather than to bankrupt their family with huge hospital bills.
Long gone are the days of the Maoist cradle-to-grave welfare system under which housing, health care, jobs and even winter cabbage supplies were provided for free. The Communist Party began the swift dismantling of that system with the introduction of market-oriented economic reforms in the 1980s. But many people got left behind.
In the absence of a social safety net, Chinese save a huge proportion of their income to ensure they have a nest egg in case of sickness. That trend has made it difficult for the Government to encourage more consumer spending to help to revive the economy since last year's sudden downturn.
A searing indictment of the medical system published by a government think-tank in 2005 served as a wake-up call to the leadership of the risks of ignoring healthcare. The report branded the system a failure and warned of severe public criticism of the Government if it did not act.
People were horrified by one tale of a three-year-old boy scalded by boiling water in an accident at his home and who died of his injuries after his parents were turned away from one hospital because they could not afford a £1,500 deposit demanded by doctors.
Under the new plan, the authorities will build 2,000 county hospitals and 5,000 township clinics in rural areas in the next three years. Pilot health insurance schemes already extended to many farmers will be increased. That subsidy will be increased by 50 per cent to 120 yuan (£12) per person per year. The country will set up a national database and, from this year, anyone over 65 and children under three will be eligible for regular free checkups.
Hospitals and clinics in the poor countryside and less developed cities will be improved and the price of essential medicines will be capped. Disease prevention and control, maternal health, mental health and first aid services will also receive greater attention.
China has long struggled to extend some type of universal coverage, but funding such a vast system has been a persistent problem. At present, insurance is mainly provided to working-age urban residents, often through their employers or government agencies. The new reforms envision diversified medical insurance systems to give coverage to employees in the private sector, non-working urbanites and residents of the poor countryside.
Limiting the cost of medicines could make a huge difference to patients, for whom these charges are among the most widespread abuses. One editorial in the state-run China Daily said: “The Government's good intention could be just wishful thinking if no specific measures were taken to break the nexus between representatives of medicine manufacturers and doctors or between hospitals and manufacturers. It is an open secret that some doctors get kickbacks from drug manufacturers for prescribing their drugs.
China plans to bring basic healthcare to all - Times Online
China plans to bring basic healthcare to all
Jane Macartney in Beijing
Healthcare is the No.1 concern among Chinese, ranking above security, education and even employment. Now the Government has unveiled a 10-year plan aimed at bringing affordable medical services to even the poorest farmer and calming rising public anger.
The plan has been several years in the drafting and full details have yet to be made public. However, the Government says it will invest 850 billion yuan (£85 billion) between 2009 and 2011 to bring equitable healthcare to 90 per cent of China’s 1.3 billion people.
A government document said: “By 2020, China will have a basic healthcare system that can provide safe, effective, convenient and affordable health services to urban and rural residents. The core principle of the reform is to provide basic health care as a 'public service' to the people, which requires much more government funding and supervision."
The goal seems to be to eradicate a system in which only the rich, city residents or those employed by government organisations had any hope of access to affordable medical services. China’s 700 million or so farmers often chose to stay at home to die rather than to bankrupt their family with huge hospital bills.
Long gone are the days of the Maoist cradle-to-grave welfare system under which housing, health care, jobs and even winter cabbage supplies were provided for free. The Communist Party began the swift dismantling of that system with the introduction of market-oriented economic reforms in the 1980s. But many people got left behind.
In the absence of a social safety net, Chinese save a huge proportion of their income to ensure they have a nest egg in case of sickness. That trend has made it difficult for the Government to encourage more consumer spending to help to revive the economy since last year's sudden downturn.
A searing indictment of the medical system published by a government think-tank in 2005 served as a wake-up call to the leadership of the risks of ignoring healthcare. The report branded the system a failure and warned of severe public criticism of the Government if it did not act.
People were horrified by one tale of a three-year-old boy scalded by boiling water in an accident at his home and who died of his injuries after his parents were turned away from one hospital because they could not afford a £1,500 deposit demanded by doctors.
Under the new plan, the authorities will build 2,000 county hospitals and 5,000 township clinics in rural areas in the next three years. Pilot health insurance schemes already extended to many farmers will be increased. That subsidy will be increased by 50 per cent to 120 yuan (£12) per person per year. The country will set up a national database and, from this year, anyone over 65 and children under three will be eligible for regular free checkups.
Hospitals and clinics in the poor countryside and less developed cities will be improved and the price of essential medicines will be capped. Disease prevention and control, maternal health, mental health and first aid services will also receive greater attention.
China has long struggled to extend some type of universal coverage, but funding such a vast system has been a persistent problem. At present, insurance is mainly provided to working-age urban residents, often through their employers or government agencies. The new reforms envision diversified medical insurance systems to give coverage to employees in the private sector, non-working urbanites and residents of the poor countryside.
Limiting the cost of medicines could make a huge difference to patients, for whom these charges are among the most widespread abuses. One editorial in the state-run China Daily said: “The Government's good intention could be just wishful thinking if no specific measures were taken to break the nexus between representatives of medicine manufacturers and doctors or between hospitals and manufacturers. It is an open secret that some doctors get kickbacks from drug manufacturers for prescribing their drugs.
China plans to bring basic healthcare to all - Times Online
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