October 20, 2008
China to return to universal health care
We have blogged before (here and here) about the declining access to health care in China due mostly to a shift in responsibility from the central government to the provincial governments. Since health care was paid for by tax dollars wealthy provinces got more care.
It seems that China is planning to reverse course and move towards universal health care.
From newscientist.com:
The Chinese government, recognising the disparities in access to healthcare between the urban rich and rural poor, is planning to overhaul the world's largest health system. The plan, entitled "Healthy China 2020", aims to restore universal access to primary healthcare by 2010.
The Healthy China 2020 initiative was announced by the government about two months ago. "It will involve about 200 medical experts divided into seven special programmes," says Shanlian Hu of Fudan University in Shanghai, and author of a paper summarising the negative impacts of the free-market reforms.
The priority is to reverse the huge disparities in access to health, particularly between urban and rural populations.
Another big focus will be on prevention rather than treatment. Already, the government has vowed to restore universal access to primary healthcare within two years, And to prevent the scandal of doctors prescribing unnecessarily expensive treatments, the government will foot the drug bill and dictate which drugs are dispensed.
UPDATE: iht.com and ajfortin.com have more information on the topic.
Posted by Staff at 08:30 AM
Category: Access to Health Care; China; Health Disparities; Health Inequities; Universal Health Care