Beijing laid out guidelines yesterday for expanding health-care reform in the first year of a three-year plan.
The blueprint comes three months after the official release of a medical reform plan, which has hardly begun because of a lack of supporting documents and the current battle against swine flu on the mainland. A few public-health initiatives under the reform, such as free hepatitis B vaccinations for children 15 and under, were started last month.
'We must focus on the key tasks, make clear the responsibilities and implement the reform practically to make sure it gets off to a good start,' a regular State Council meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao was told yesterday.
The meeting was aimed at expanding the coverage of basic medical insurance, one of the five major reform tasks. The number of urban residents on medical insurance, with or without employment, should increase by 72 million to 390 million, and some 6.07 million retirees of bankrupt state-owned companies should also be included in the scheme, the meeting was told.
The country aims to establish a basic medical insurance scheme within three years that covers all rural residents and 90 per cent of the population. Currently, 91.5 per cent of farmers have joined the new rural co-operative medical system, which provides basic care.
The basic insurance scheme, which varies from province to province or even county to county, usually imposes a cap on the reimbursed amount and reimbursement ratio for inpatient bills and treatment of serious diseases.
Despite much progress compared with the days when farmers and urban residents had no medical insurance at all, the consensus of experts is that the basic medical reform is a far cry from what citizens need.
