Treatments for rare diseases ought to be covered by medical insurance

THE DEATH OF WEI ZEXI, a college student who suffered from a rare type of cancer, continues to spark discussions online. An editorial on Beijing News said on Wednesday:

Wei's death has exposed to us an inevitable fact: There are large numbers of hospitals that charge high prices for ineffective treatments.

More worryingly, these hospitals get licenses from the medical authorities. They have even been given a name "Putian-style hospitals" because many of the investors in these private medical centers come from Putian in southeast China's Fujian province.