China unveils guideline on deepening reform of medical insurance system

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council on Thursday unveiled a guideline on deepening the reform of the country's medical insurance system.

The guideline is for further implementing the decisions and plans made at the 19th National Congress of the CPC on establishing a distinctively Chinese system for medical insurance, as well as solving the problems of imbalanced and insufficient development of medical insurance, according to the authorities.

The goal of the reform is to set up a medical security system that centers on basic medical insurance and is underpinned by medical aid by 2030, the guideline reads.

It calls for efforts to improve the treatment insurance mechanism, noting that fair and moderate treatment insurance is an intrinsic requirement for enhancing people's wellbeing.

The insurance mechanism for medical costs during major epidemic outbreaks should thus be improved, with measures such as releasing special medical insurance payment policies to ensure that medical institutions can provide treatments before charging and that treatments will not be affected by patients' concerns over fees.

Moreover, the guideline asks for efforts to make the operation mechanism for financing medical insurance more stable and sustainable, and proposes methods to set up an effective and efficient mechanism for medical insurance payment.

The document also features fund monitoring, the supply-side reform on medical services, public management services and other issues concerning the country's medical insurance system.