The Chinese Government, has unveiled a five-year plan to improve the accessibility, affordability and sustainability of its healthcare security system.
The plan, according to Xinhua News Agency, covered more than 1.3 billion people.
The roadmap which was issued by the National Healthcare Security Administration, sets targets for the 2026-2030 period, including making basic medical insurance services more accessible, strengthening the security of insurance funds and improving the efficiency of fund use.
“It outlines 26 measures in eight areas to improve the country’s multi-tiered healthcare security system, covering basic medical insurance, critical illness insurance, medical assistance, maternity insurance, commercial health insurance and long-term care insurance,” Xinhua News Agency reported.
The state-owned news agency further stated that China’s basic medical insurance programmes covered 1.33 billion people, or 95 percent of the population, at the end of 2025.
The funds, it added, included maternity insurance, recorded revenue of 3.59 trillion yuan amounting to about 500 billion U.S. dollars and expenditure of three trillion yuan in 2025.
“The plan places particular emphasis on extending coverage to a changing workforce. It calls for implementing policies that allow residence permit holders to enrol in basic medical insurance and encourages flexible workers and people in new forms of employment to join the employee medical insurance programme.
“It also calls for clarifying the contribution responsibilities of employers and platform companies and strengthening the protection of workers’ medical insurance rights.
“Long-term care is another priority as China’s population ages. At the end of 2025, the country had 323.38 million people aged 60 or above, accounting for 23 percent of its population. The figure is projected to exceed 400 million around 2035.
“Long-term care insurance is a social insurance program that provides services or financial support for basic daily care and closely related medical nursing for people who have lost some or all of their ability to care for themselves. By the end of 2025, this insurance covered 308.55 million people, with 1.93 million receiving benefits,” the news agency stated.
Under the plan, it will be further extended, alongside efforts to expand service capacity, improve technical standards and promote innovation in the sector.
To further reduce medical costs, China will expand medical insurance catalogue management beyond medicines to cover medical services and consumables, while advancing reforms in insurance payment methods and healthcare service pricing.
The measures build on the country’s centralized bulk-buying program for medicines and medical devices. Prices of high-value medical consumables, including coronary stents, artificial joints and intraocular lenses, have also fallen substantially under the programme.
The plan also calls for supporting pharmaceutical innovation, strengthening budget management and establishing a more robust whole-process oversight system.
To improve access to primary care, China aims to bring more than 98 percent of administrative villages with clinics under designated medical insurance management and refine reimbursement policies for different levels of medical institutions.
Other measures include upgrading online tools that allow users to compare medicine prices and locate pharmacies, expanding direct settlement for treatment received outside a patient’s home region, and piloting cross-regional direct settlement of maternity-related medical expenses.
(The Sun)
