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County to continue free healthcare trial

By Ma Lie in Shaanxi and Lan Tian in Beijing (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-27 08:14

A pilot program in which the sick are reimbursed the majority of their medical costs has been extended in Shaanxi's Shenmu county.

Under the program launched in March, the local government pays for medical bills above 200 yuan ($29) at township clinics, and 400 yuan in county-level hospitals.

Mao Yuye, 82, at a local hospital in Shemu county, Shaanxi province, where she is undergoing free treatment, on Monday. Shemu claims it is the first county in the country to provide free medical treatment for the local people. [Photo by Tao Ming/China Daily]

It also pays for medical bills above 3,000 yuan at hospitals based outside the county. No more than 300,000 yuan can be repaid for medical bills annually per person.

Shenmu has a population of 380,000 but only those with a residential permit and who are covered by the county's unified medical insurance are eligible for the benefits.

The pilot program would continue as part of a 15-month investigation before its implementation.

Lei Jiangsheng, publicity department chief of Shenmu county Party committee, said that there had been difficulties with the pilot program but that it would continue anyway.

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"What is certain is that we will continue the policy to benefit residents," he said, but refused to provide details on when the program would end.

Local residents welcomed the program and the number of hospital inpatients was 30 percent higher during March and April than the same period last year. It was lower for May.

According to the county health bureau, 2,070 inpatients received 9.6 million yuan in medical reimbursements in March and 12.7 million yuan in April.

He Fengying, an unemployed intestinal cancer patient who is receiving treatment at Shenmu county hospital, said the policy was saving her life.

She said her family, which has an annual income of 20,000 yuan, had almost been bankrupted by more than 100,000 in medical bills last year.

However, she has spent just 1,000 yuan on medical bills at the hospital in the past 10 days.

"We are so lucky to be born in Shenmu, which is the only place in the country that has such a good policy," she told a newspaper report.

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