According to a report by medical industry experts that insurance costs has been going up due to the rising medical costs and an aging population while insurance funds continue to be saddled by the slowdown in the economy.
The government reduces medical costs, saying that China's health insurance scheme for urban employees may run into deficit in 2017 and the accumulated deficit could reach 735.3 billion yuan.
Health insurance funds have emerged as active purchasers of care, not just passive reimbursers of costs. PHI fund reserves have moved from precarious liquidity to healthy surplus.Anecdotally, public hospitals report little benefit to date. Waiting lists have not been reduced, and their budgets are unchanged as a result of the $2 Bn allocated under the 30% Rebate scheme.
China's soaring medical fees and low medical insurance coverage has prompted the government to set up a nationwide safety net of minimal medical insurance, which currently includes the rural medical scheme, the basic medical insurance for urban employees, and the unemployed, as well as medical aid for the poor in both rural and urban areas.
There is no need for the public to worry about a possible deficit as the scheme is in no danger of going bankrupt or will not cover their medical costs," said Fang Pengqian, a professor of the School of Medicine and Health Management at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, "But the scheme faces challenges." The average annual growth of healthcare costs in the past three years is 13.2 percent, or 1.62 times faster than GDP growth during the same period, the report noted.
The government will improve the scheme's effectiveness, supervise it more closely and impose harsher punishment on violators, such as insurance fraud.
