China's medical security system improved: white paper

BEIJING - China has been vigorously improving its national medical security system, and the country has preliminarily realized basic health care for every citizen, according to a white paper released Friday.

The white paper, "Development of China's Public Health as an Essential Element of Human Rights," was issued by the State Council Information Office, introducing facts about the development of public health.

Basic medical insurance covers all urban and rural residents, it said. By the end of 2016, basic medical insurance had more than 1.3 billion recipients nationwide with a coverage of above 95 percent.

Support for basic medical insurance schemes and its sustainability have been increasing, it said.

The income and expenditure of the basic medical insurance fund for working urban residents in 2016 were 1,027.4 billion yuan (154.7 billion U.S. dollars) and 828.7 billion yuan respectively, with an annual increase of 15.7 percent and 15.6 percent on average since 2012, the document said.

China has seen improvement in basic medical insurance benefits, forms of reimbursements from basic medical insurance, serious illness insurance for urban and rural residents, and medical assistance mechanisms, it said.

In 2016, China appropriated 15.5 billion yuan in medical assistance subsidies (excluding illness emergency assistance subsidies), 92 percent of which went to central and western regions, and poverty-stricken areas, it said.

Medical security for the rural poverty-stricken population has also been improved, the white paper said, adding that the rural poverty-stricken population is now fully covered by both basic medical insurance and serious illness insurance for urban and rural residents.

By May 2017, China had given treatment to over 2.6 million poor people and the country has adopted preferential policies favoring the rural poor with respect to reimbursement from serious illness insurance, it said.