Millions Of People In China Dropping Out Of State Health Insurance: VOA Report

Millions of people in China are ditching government health insurance, according to a VOA report. VOA is an American news network and international radio broadcaster.

According to statistics released by the National Health Protection Administration, China will enroll 1.34 billion people in state-subsidized basic health insurance in 2022, down from 17.05 million people in 2021. He believes the country's public hospitals are losing money and doing everything they can can increase additional payments to patients.

Shu Min told VOA Mandarin in an interview: "A doctor told me that the more problems a patient has, the better he is. So hospitals can get more benefits through the highest amount of insurance a patient can apply for do. It's ridiculous. !" Shu Min's father was diagnosed with mild Alzheimer's disease and suffered broken bones in a fall several years ago, which required a long hospitalization for rehabilitation.

Shu Min said some hospitals suggested accepting her father as a patient seeking Alzheimer's treatment rather than rehabilitation because the health insurance program paid 3,000 (22,000 yuan) for Alzheimer's patients and $1,100 (8,000 yuan) for rehabilitation. VOA said public hospitals have also increased their payment rates in recent years. One of her father's most frequent treatments was not covered by health insurance, and the family had to switch treatments, even though doctors said the first drug was more effective.

There are also fewer items covered by health insurance. For example, two years ago recovery training was done twice a day, but now it is done once a day. Physiotherapy was reduced to twice a day. "For the last three years I have been very scared because every January the doctor tells me that there is a new policy. Since last year, there have been more and more policy changes. This does not give patients or hospitals time to adapt. I live under a lot of stress and anxiety,” said Shu Min.

However, unlike Shu Min, who still has health insurance, millions of Chinese citizens are excluded from the government program. In a research paper on health insurance, Wang Chakun, a professor at Central China Normal University in Wuhan, suggested several reasons why people choose not to participate in insurance plans. These include continued premium increases, reduced benefits, increased health care for the middle-aged population, and the failure of insurance plans to address some serious illnesses.

VOA reported that the headline "20 million people give up health insurance" on the widely used but censored Chinese social media site Weibo. User "Jackekaby" replied: "Many people choose not to buy health insurance."

According to Dong Siqi, director of the international relations department at a policy research organization called Taiwan Tintank, the cost of health insurance in China is 38 times higher than 20 years ago, while the average income of migrant workers has increased only 24 times. Continuous premium increases put pressure on some people, especially in rural areas with large families. "The percentage of health insurance paid by the government is still much higher than that paid by the private sector, which shows a lack of confidence in the social security system as many people leave the system," Dong said in a telephone interview. said interview to VOA Mandarin.

The Covid-19 outbreak has affected the activities of many companies because they can no longer afford health insurance for their employees, Dong said. “Local governments are unable to provide health insurance due to financial constraints. "That's why people prefer to save for other expenses because the costs they have to pay themselves are high," reports VOA. (ANI)

(This story has not been edited by DevDiscourse staff and is generated from an automated feed.)

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