Are you still trouble with the safty of the net surfing? Do you doubt that the reliability of certian web angencies? Don't worry! The government is planning to launch a pilot project that will bring medical insurance to millions of unemployed urban residents. Moreover, people living in rural areas will also have improved insurance by the end of the year, as a minimum living allowance system will have been established nationwide by then. The following article reports in detail.
China's Ministry of Labour and Social Security says it will launch a medical insurance project that covers those not included in the existing system, including urban employees, school students, young children, the elderly and the disabled.
Hu Xiaoyi is deputy chief of the ministry. "The pilot project aims to explore and improve the medical insurance policies of urban residents. It will be carried out in some selected cities this year, and then expand over the next two years." Hu Xiaoyi says that the country plans to include all of its 240 million unemployed urban residents under the medical insurance system by 2010.
The premiums under the pilot urban program will be paid by households, instead of individuals. The government will give each participant a subsidy of at least 40 yuan, or over 5 US dollars, annually. Low-income families and disabled people will get an additional subsidy.
The project will mainly cover expenses for hospitalization and major illnesses. In general, 50 to 60 percent of a policy-holder's hospital related expenses will be covered by the program.
China first established a medical insurance system for urban employees back in 1998.
A co-operative medical care system was already implemented in rural areas in 2003, covering over 85% of the total 800 million. Conversely, Hu Xiaoyi says, the new urban program, if successful, means all Chinese residents can have equal access to medical insurance.
The vice-minister adds that migrant workers from the countryside shall also be covered by the urban employees' insurance system, because the relatively low reimbursement rate under the existing rural co-operative insurance system would not be enough to cover the high cost of hospital care in urban cities.
He highlights a major insurance program that's in favor of the 130 million migrant workers in China's cities.
"There is in place a special policy in favour of the nation's farmers-turned-workers, that is, their employers are obliged to pay for their expenses of hospitalisation and major illness."
While the government is assuring farmers working in cities that they will be taken care of during sickness, it's also making effort to ensure those remaining in the countryside don't have to worry about their basic living needs.
The State Council has released a new regulation expanding the minimum living stipend system, to cover all counties and villages by the end of the year.
Dr Zhang Shifei from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences says the expansion will narrow the income disparity between rural and urban areas; given that people in the countryside are often on the receiving end of price hikes, but the last to receive income increases.
"The work to complete the system is of great importance for promoting rural social economic development, and it provides a framework to guide related documents to be released by local governments."
China has lifted 230 million people out of poverty over the past 3 decades, and so far, the population living under the poverty line has shrunken by nearly 90 percent.
But China's cabinet, the State Council, said in a recent report that despite years of poverty alleviation work, part of the rural population is still very poor and such people are in urgent need of government subsidies.
The new regulation will cover those whose annual net income is bellow the minimum living standards of the region, particularly those who are suffering from physical difficulties or living under extreme natural conditions.
To ensure its timely enforcement, the Ministry of Finance has allocated 3 billion yuan, about 400 million US dollars, the funds will aid low-income rural households.
Dr Zhang Shifei says although a majority of the funds will be from local governments, support from the central government is crucial.
"The aid funds from the central government will be a great help in regional poverty relief programs, the introduction of a central budget is laying a solid fiscal foundation for promoting the system nationwide."
With money from the central government, investment into the rural allowance system will total over 1 billion US dollars, doubling the figure from last year, and officials have indicated that such investment will continue to grow in the years to come, to help more poverty-stricken people.
