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Helping farmers get medical care
Source: Xinhua |
January 6, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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CHEN Yugui, a farmer from north China's Shanxi Province, did not expect that a tiny amount of money he decided to spend four years ago would turn out to be a prudent and high-return investment.
With an annual income of about 4,000 yuan (US$588), the 74-year-old and his wife from Gaoping city used to avoid going to doctors for fear of high medical bills.
In 2007, Chen was rushed to the hospital with a cerebral hemorrhage. He was saved, but the medical treatment cost nearly 30,000 yuan, more than seven times his annual income.
Fortunately he had paid 10 yuan a year to join the cooperative medical care system launched in Gaoping City in 2006. Chen was entitled to a maximum of 50,000 yuan reimbursement for medical treatment.
"We were reimbursed for 18,000 yuan," Chen said. Chen is among more than 800 million farmers in China who have joined the new cooperative medical care system.
Expanding the cooperative medical care system is just one step of China's health care strategy that aims to introduce cheaper medical services for all.
Last April China unveiled its three-year plan for health care reform, involving an investment of at least 850 billion yuan.
In China's vast rural areas, farmers have many proverbs to express difficulties with medical treatment. "Three days in hospital, the rest of your life in debt," is one of them.
Some farmers, like Chen, missed the old days of free medical services in rural areas. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, farmers had access to subsidized health clinics run by "barefoot doctors," who were basically middle-school students trained in first aid.
The primitive service, essentially free, played a role in doubling the country's average life expectancy from 35 years in 1949 to 68 years in 1978.
When China began its economic reforms in the early 1980s, the system was dismantled as the country attempted to switch to a market-oriented health care system.
But the government failed to establish a viable substitute, leaving its large rural population without health insurance.
The government launched a new cooperative medical program in 2003 in the rural areas to offer farmers basic health care.
Under the scheme, a participant pays 10 yuan a year, while the state, provincial, municipal and county governments supply another 40 yuan to the fund.
When rural residents fall seriously ill, a proportion of hospital expenses will be covered from the pooled insurance. The rate of reimbursement varies according to different kinds of illnesses and the actual cost of medical expenses incurred.
Despite all the changes, people believed better coverage was needed.
Lei Pugui, a farmer in Beiqiang Village in Pingyao City of Shanxi, refused to join in the cooperative medical program, although participation rate in the city was above 95 percent. "The program is not convenient," Lei said. "I must pay the medical bill myself first and then get reimbursement. And the rate of reimbursement is too low."
With an annual income of about 4,000 yuan (US$588), the 74-year-old and his wife from Gaoping city used to avoid going to doctors for fear of high medical bills.
In 2007, Chen was rushed to the hospital with a cerebral hemorrhage. He was saved, but the medical treatment cost nearly 30,000 yuan, more than seven times his annual income.
Fortunately he had paid 10 yuan a year to join the cooperative medical care system launched in Gaoping City in 2006. Chen was entitled to a maximum of 50,000 yuan reimbursement for medical treatment.
"We were reimbursed for 18,000 yuan," Chen said. Chen is among more than 800 million farmers in China who have joined the new cooperative medical care system.
Expanding the cooperative medical care system is just one step of China's health care strategy that aims to introduce cheaper medical services for all.
Last April China unveiled its three-year plan for health care reform, involving an investment of at least 850 billion yuan.
In China's vast rural areas, farmers have many proverbs to express difficulties with medical treatment. "Three days in hospital, the rest of your life in debt," is one of them.
Some farmers, like Chen, missed the old days of free medical services in rural areas. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, farmers had access to subsidized health clinics run by "barefoot doctors," who were basically middle-school students trained in first aid.
The primitive service, essentially free, played a role in doubling the country's average life expectancy from 35 years in 1949 to 68 years in 1978.
When China began its economic reforms in the early 1980s, the system was dismantled as the country attempted to switch to a market-oriented health care system.
But the government failed to establish a viable substitute, leaving its large rural population without health insurance.
The government launched a new cooperative medical program in 2003 in the rural areas to offer farmers basic health care.
Under the scheme, a participant pays 10 yuan a year, while the state, provincial, municipal and county governments supply another 40 yuan to the fund.
When rural residents fall seriously ill, a proportion of hospital expenses will be covered from the pooled insurance. The rate of reimbursement varies according to different kinds of illnesses and the actual cost of medical expenses incurred.
Despite all the changes, people believed better coverage was needed.
Lei Pugui, a farmer in Beiqiang Village in Pingyao City of Shanxi, refused to join in the cooperative medical program, although participation rate in the city was above 95 percent. "The program is not convenient," Lei said. "I must pay the medical bill myself first and then get reimbursement. And the rate of reimbursement is too low."
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