Annual income of resident basic medical insurance in China 2014-2023

In 2023, the urban and rural resident basic medical insurance program in China received an income of more than one trillion yuan, representing an increase of 4.4 percent from the previous year. Reform of the public health insurance systemIn the past few years, the Chinese healthcare system and public health insurance have undergone significant reforms, with the country’s basic medical insurance programs now covering more than 1.33 billion people. To simplify the system and safeguard equal healthcare and benefits to everyone living in both urban and rural regions, the rural cooperative medical scheme and the urban resident basic medical insurance were both integrated into a uniform urban and rural resident basic medical insurance system, which covers all non-working residents across China. Regional inequalitiesHowever, inequalities remain rampant among patients from different employment statuses or living in different regions. On one hand, employee basic medical insurance normally offers more comprehensive coverage and higher reimbursement rates than the resident basic medical insurance. On the other hand, with each province having its own policy, the resident basic medical insurance program in poorer regions can also be significantly inferior to its counterpart in a more affluent region. Access to quality healthcare services remains challenging in rural areas, as high-level hospitals and specialists are generally concentrated in provincial capitals and economic centers.

于2023年，我国城乡居民基本医疗保险制度收入超过一万亿元人民币，较上年增长4.4%。近年来，我国医疗保障体系及公共卫生保险制度经历了重大改革，目前国家基本医疗保险计划覆盖人数已超过13.3亿。为简化体系并保障城乡居民享有平等的医疗保健和福利，农村合作医疗方案及城镇居民基本医疗保险均被整合为统一的城乡居民基本医疗保险制度，覆盖我国所有非从业居民。然而，不同就业状态或居住在不同地区的患者之间，仍普遍存在不平等现象。一方面，职工基本医疗保险通常提供比居民基本医疗保险更全面的保障和更高的报销比率。另一方面，由于每个省份都有自己的政策，贫困地区的居民基本医疗保险计划与较富裕地区的对应计划相比也可能存在显著差异。在乡村地区，由于高级医院和专家通常集中在省会和经济中心，因此获得高质量的医疗保健服务仍然面临挑战。