Govt funding eases access to healthcare

The central government has allocated 3 trillion yuan ($425.8 billion) to healthcare security since 2018, supporting more than 18 billion medical expense reimbursements nationwide, the National Healthcare Security Administration said on Wednesday.

A total of 2.87 trillion yuan has been allocated to subsidize basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents — one of the two main types of public health insurance programs.

This year, the per capita funding for the resident insurance is 1,100 yuan, with 700 yuan — or over 60 percent of the total — covered by government subsidy. The balance is paid by individuals.

"Residents now enjoy greater security through the healthcare insurance program, and the funding pool has become more stable," the administration said.

The government has also distributed 237.5 billion yuan to provide medical assistance for low-income and other disadvantaged groups from 2018 to 2025. In 2024 alone, these funds enabled 79.16 million people to enroll in basic medical insurance and provided nearly 200 million instances of outpatient and inpatient medical aid.

"The medical assistance system has effectively served as a safety net. The participation rate in basic medical insurance among low-income and formerly impoverished rural residents has remained above 99 percent," the administration said, adding that the reimbursement rate for policy-covered expenses within this group exceeds 90 percent.

Since 2019, 27.6 billion yuan of central government funding has been directed toward strengthening the healthcare security service system. A key outcome is the establishment of a unified national healthcare security information platform.

Through the platform, over 1.2 billion people can now use a digital code for easier access to medical services. The system handles a daily average of more than 28 million settlement transactions, with an average response time of 0.8 seconds for inpatient expense settlements.

Currently, over 90 percent of frequently used healthcare security procedures can be completed online. Furthermore, more than 90 percent of townships and subdistricts offer services at local healthcare facilities, allowing residents to manage insurance needs within their communities.

"From 2019 to 2025, the number of direct cross-province medical expense settlements has grown 110-fold, and the number of designated healthcare institutions capable of processing such inpatient expenses has risen from 27,600 to 80,000," the administration added.

The administration said it had, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, already pre-allocated 416.6 billion yuan for healthcare security subsidies and capacity-building programs for 2026, ensuring sustained support for the system's development.

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