Can China’s creaky health insurance scheme withstand its ageing population and coronavirus?
- The China Health Insurance Fund is under enormous strain from the coronavirus pandemic and a rapidly-ageing society
- The scheme covers 96.8 per cent of the population, but Beijing is being forced to encourage more commercial insurance
For two decades, 65-year-old farmer Che Xiuyue had been troubled by osteophytes, bony lumps that grew on her knees, causing her unbearable pain and stiffness.
In 2019, unable to stomach the discomfort any longer, she finally had surgery to treat them. But when she received the bill of 10,000 yuan (US$1,569), Che was overcome by a new wave of distress.
Though only one-tenth of the original surgery price – thanks to China’s public health care insurance scheme – the charge was nearly equivalent to the annual income of her family of four, roughly 10,800 yuan.
“We simply can’t afford the complete treatment costs by ourselves,” she said.
China spent more than 400 billion yuan (US$62.7 billion) in 2020 on coronavirus testing, vaccines and patient treatment.
Medical expenses for Covid-19 patients reached 2.84 billion yuan last year, of which the health insurance fund paid 1.63 billion yuan, official data showed.