China Vows Medical Pricing Reform To Keep Healthcare Affordable
- Pilots to start in hospitals, nationwide expansion by 2025
- Some services like pediatrics, nursing are ‘undervalued’: plan
Photographer: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
China will reform the pricing of medical services provided by public hospitals as part of its campaign to make healthcare more affordable, the latest salvo in President Xi Jinping’s call for “common prosperity” for the country’s 1.4 billion people.
The reform plan will create a “mechanism” with clear rules governing how prices are calculated and capped at public hospitals, where costs are split between patients and the state medical insurance fund. The details, released late Tuesday by a group of governmental agencies that oversee hospitals, drugs, medical insurance and pricing, sent health care stocks down on Wednesday.