International Law

Basics of China?s Health Care Reform Announced

By Stan

Details are still forthcoming, but this at least states categorically that health care is a public service, and is an implicit admission that the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of privatization and (high) fee-for-service.

From Xinhua:

[Today's announcement] will be supplemented by a more detailed implementation plan for the three years until 2011. The plan has yet to be published, but the State Council announced earlier this year an investment plan of 850 billion yuan (124 billion U.S. dollars) for the reform in three years.

The core principle of the reform is to provide basic health care as a “public service” to the people, which requires much more government funding and supervision.

The document said the government role in “formulating policies and plans, raising funds, providing service, and supervising” must be strengthened in order to ensure the fairness and equity of the service.

“This is the first time that basic medical services in China are clearly defined as a public service for all citizens, which is part of essential rights of the people,” said Prof. Li Ling, of Peking University.

The reform is aimed at “solving pressing problems that have caused strong complaints from the public,” the document said, referring to long-standing criticism that medical services are difficult to access and increasingly unaffordable.

Xinhua also has a historical chronology of post-1949 health care reform in China, which is pretty cool and worth a look.

© Stan for China Hearsay, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us

Full post as published by China Hearsay on April 06, 2009 (boomark / email).