Health Reform to Increase Coverage and Lower Cost

Health care reform is aimed at making health care more accessible and affordable rather than providing free medical services for everyone, said vice Health Minister Huang Jiefu.

"Almost 90 percent of people will choose government-run hospitals," Huang said. "To ensure the success of health care reform, we must have a major operation on those public hospitals in terms of management, personnel system and salary system."

He said reform should be based on three principles: ensuring that the poor can afford health care, sharing medical expenses with the people, and letting the rich pay for high-end medical services themselves.

Huang added that providing free medical services isn't feasible because of the amount of funding for health care and the uneven distribution of health care resources.

The total budget for health care in 2009 was 160 billion yuan, or an average of 1,200 yuan per capita. "China's current economy can't afford (to provide free medical services)," Huang said.

(China.org)