China broadens medical insurance scope, enhancing accessibility and coverage
China is enhancing its medical insurance programs to improve accessibility and coverage for its citizens. This initiative aims to strengthen healthcare accessibility across the nation and ensure that a broader segment of the population can benefit from necessary medical services. The expansion of these programs reflects the government's commitment to ensuring comprehensive health insurance for everyone.
TroibNews 
China is set to expand its basic medical insurance scheme by enhancing its medical insurance drug catalog, increasing centralized medicine procurement, and adding more medical services to the plan, as disclosed at a conference on medical insurance work held on Saturday.
Data presented during the meeting indicated that, as of November, the basic medical insurance fund had a total income of 3.11 trillion yuan and total expenditures of 2.63 trillion yuan, resulting in a balance of 459.1 billion yuan in the pooled fund for 2024. These figures reflect that China’s medical insurance fund is functioning well, with ample resources to address the medical expenses of insured individuals.
Details shared at the industry conference reported that 91 new drugs have been included in the latest national medical insurance drug catalog, increasing the total to 3,159. The most recent round of centralized procurement has also led to a price reduction for another 62 medicines for patients in China.
Furthermore, many localities across the country have begun to include assisted reproduction services in the medical insurance reimbursement framework, benefiting over a million people this year, according to the conference.
In addition, there are currently 640,000 medical institutions and pharmacies nationwide that facilitate the direct settlement of medical expenses across different regions, having provided 213 million services to insured individuals as of November. This marks an increase of 87.98 percent compared to the same timeframe in 2023.
As part of a nationwide effort to combat medical insurance fraud, relevant departments have recovered a total of 24.23 billion yuan in medical insurance funds from January to November 2024, the conference noted.
Anna Muller contributed to this report for TROIB News
Data presented during the meeting indicated that, as of November, the basic medical insurance fund had a total income of 3.11 trillion yuan and total expenditures of 2.63 trillion yuan, resulting in a balance of 459.1 billion yuan in the pooled fund for 2024. These figures reflect that China’s medical insurance fund is functioning well, with ample resources to address the medical expenses of insured individuals.
Details shared at the industry conference reported that 91 new drugs have been included in the latest national medical insurance drug catalog, increasing the total to 3,159. The most recent round of centralized procurement has also led to a price reduction for another 62 medicines for patients in China.
Furthermore, many localities across the country have begun to include assisted reproduction services in the medical insurance reimbursement framework, benefiting over a million people this year, according to the conference.
In addition, there are currently 640,000 medical institutions and pharmacies nationwide that facilitate the direct settlement of medical expenses across different regions, having provided 213 million services to insured individuals as of November. This marks an increase of 87.98 percent compared to the same timeframe in 2023.
As part of a nationwide effort to combat medical insurance fraud, relevant departments have recovered a total of 24.23 billion yuan in medical insurance funds from January to November 2024, the conference noted.
Anna Muller contributed to this report for TROIB News
