Report indicates continuous progress in China's medical insurance system
The report indicates a continuous progress in China's medical insurance system.
TroibNews 
In 2023, China's medical insurance system demonstrated stable functionality, with enhanced services for citizens and secure, sustainable medical insurance funds, as revealed in a recent report.
The National Healthcare Security Administration released a statistical report on the development of the country's medical insurance industry in 2023 on Thursday.
Improvements have been made to facilitate cross-regional medical visits. By the end of last year, China had integrated over 550,000 medical and pharmacy institutions into the national medical insurance network for trans-provincial bill settlements. This network includes around 198,000 medical institutions and 352,400 pharmacies.
Throughout the year, cross-regional outpatient, emergency room, and inpatient visits reached a total of 243 million, incurring medical expenses of 711.1 billion yuan (approximately $98.2 billion).
These numbers show a considerable increase from the 110 million visits and 521.7 billion yuan in 2022, according to the report.
Access to medical and healthcare services covered by the national healthcare insurance program improved significantly, with 2.61 billion beneficial services provided to Chinese citizens in 2023, marking a 21.1 percent year-on-year growth, as noted in the report.
By the end of 2023, China’s basic healthcare insurance network had expanded to cover over 95 percent of its population, making it the largest in the world.
One initiative to reduce medical costs for the public is centralized bulk drug procurement. In 2023, two batches of drug purchases, involving 80 drugs, resulted in an average price reduction of 57 percent, according to the report.
Currently, the national basic healthcare insurance scheme includes more than 3,000 Western and traditional Chinese medicines, with an increasing number of drugs for cancer and rare disease treatments being added.
China has committed to further reforms of its medical and healthcare systems. The reform measures include enhancing the public health system, improving services at community-level medical and healthcare institutions, and advancing the reform of public hospitals.
A new update of the catalog of insurance-covered medicines is underway this year, which is expected to bring additional benefits to the public, said Zhu Weiguo, an official responsible for medical insurance at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital.
Lucas Dupont contributed to this report for TROIB News
The National Healthcare Security Administration released a statistical report on the development of the country's medical insurance industry in 2023 on Thursday.
Improvements have been made to facilitate cross-regional medical visits. By the end of last year, China had integrated over 550,000 medical and pharmacy institutions into the national medical insurance network for trans-provincial bill settlements. This network includes around 198,000 medical institutions and 352,400 pharmacies.
Throughout the year, cross-regional outpatient, emergency room, and inpatient visits reached a total of 243 million, incurring medical expenses of 711.1 billion yuan (approximately $98.2 billion).
These numbers show a considerable increase from the 110 million visits and 521.7 billion yuan in 2022, according to the report.
Access to medical and healthcare services covered by the national healthcare insurance program improved significantly, with 2.61 billion beneficial services provided to Chinese citizens in 2023, marking a 21.1 percent year-on-year growth, as noted in the report.
By the end of 2023, China’s basic healthcare insurance network had expanded to cover over 95 percent of its population, making it the largest in the world.
One initiative to reduce medical costs for the public is centralized bulk drug procurement. In 2023, two batches of drug purchases, involving 80 drugs, resulted in an average price reduction of 57 percent, according to the report.
Currently, the national basic healthcare insurance scheme includes more than 3,000 Western and traditional Chinese medicines, with an increasing number of drugs for cancer and rare disease treatments being added.
China has committed to further reforms of its medical and healthcare systems. The reform measures include enhancing the public health system, improving services at community-level medical and healthcare institutions, and advancing the reform of public hospitals.
A new update of the catalog of insurance-covered medicines is underway this year, which is expected to bring additional benefits to the public, said Zhu Weiguo, an official responsible for medical insurance at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital.
Lucas Dupont contributed to this report for TROIB News
