Practical Experience of the Primary Healthcare System for Chinese Rural Residents: Building the Largest Health Insurance Program to Cover People Living in Poverty [post]

Wuqi Qiu, Hongpu Hu, Patricia Lee, Liqin Xie, Yan Wang, Yanli Wan
2020 unpublished
Background: The New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme plays a crucial role in relieving the economic burden of medical care and cost of medicine for rural residents, and is expected to enhance economic growth and social development in the rural area. To further promote and improve the primary healthcare in the rural area through high quality medical services and healthcare cost management in China. Methods: This study collected and analyzed the data from 2003 to 2015,published literatures,
more » ... ic policies,the national health statistics yearbook,and statistics reports to provide an overview of the NRCMS and the implementation experience since its inception in the perspectives of organization and management, finance, coverage and insurance, supervision and monitoring. Results: The NRCMS has been implemented in all the counties for Chinese rural residents. It is the largest primary healthcare system by population in the world. It reached the full coverage in 2008, and the participation rate has been stable at more than 95%. The scope and levels of the insurance offered by NRCMS have expanded over time. The actual level of insurance for hospitalization has increased from about 20% at the beginning to about 57%. By the end of 2014, the cumulative benefit usage reached 10 billion person-time. In 2013, healthcare insurance reform for major diseases was undertaken for twenty-two major diseases with the pilot conducted at the national level. It led to an increase in the actual reimbursement rate for major diseases to 70%. In 2015, the average standard subsidy of the NRCMS from central and local government agencies was 380 Yuans per person, and the individual shared payment was about 120 Yuans. Attention has been paid by all levels of government to continuously improve information network, strengthen personalized management, and increase quality of service. Conclusions:After more than a decade, the NRCMS has become the primary healthcare system for over 800 million Chinese rural residents, playing a vital role for healthcare equality and social and economic development in rural areas.
doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-23415/v1 fatcat:p3ierfbg6bfolg75syfb6g5t3m