Huang Shuixiang, a 73-year-old farmer in east China, never expected
to see the day he would be given 188.68 yuan (US$22.7) in subsidies
for his hernia operation, and he said that never before in his
lifetime could a farmer apply for reimbursement as urban people do.
China has a farmer population of over 900 million, who were not
entitled, for a very long period of time, to the basic medical
insurance urban people were, although they were more vulnerable
because of their far lower income than urbanites.
Huang and his family made a living simply on farming in Yuanqian
Village of Bayi Town of Nanchang County in Jiangxi Province, and
his three-member family's annual income was less than 5,000 yuan
(US$602). Huang had to delay his operation for more than 10 years
because of financial problems.
Of
his ability to receive reimbursement for the operation, Huang said
"Our ancestors never dreamed of such a good thing!"
China is launching an unprecedented project to build up a
cooperative medicare system within eight years in rural areas,
which will cover 900 million farmers with medical financial
assistance and free them from worries of being unable to afford a
cure.
Under this new medicare system, cooperative medical funds will be
set up in rural areas with money from three parties: the central
government, local governments and farmers themselves. The portions
of funds paid by three parties vary in different regions. A farmer
in the system will get varying portions of subsidies after he or
she becomes ill and hospitalized.
In
the eastern booming province of Zhejiang, the provincial government
took a lead in the country in employing the new system, aiming to
make it fully operational in the province four years earlier than
the timetable for the whole nation.
"This will certainly enhance farmers' ability to shield themselves
from risks of being unable to afford a cure when they are seriously
ill, and will help prevent farmers from falling into or falling
back to poverty because of catching diseases," said Xi Jinping,
governor of Zhejiang.
In
Chinese rural areas, there are about 30 million people still in
poverty and 60 million living close to the poverty line. According
to Chen Xiwen, a research fellow with the State Development and
Research Center, a think-tank to the Chinese cabinet, 90 percent of
farmers have to pay medical expenses solely by themselves, compared
to 60 percent of urban dwellers, while farmers' income is about one
third that of urban residents. As a result, a lot of farmers are
unable to afford a cure when catching illness.
The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) this
spring awakened policymakers' attention to health and medicare
problems for rural people. The epidemic exposed farmers'
vulnerability to health risks from diseases like SARS.
The Chinese government is vowing to build a relatively affluent
Chinese society in the future two decades, and it is a key issue in
reaching this goal to raise the living standards and quality of
Chinese farmers, who account for 70 percent of the population.
Official statistics show that half of the poverty population in the
country suffer from disease. "From this point of view, without a
solution to farmers' medicare problem, it is hardly possible to
realize a relatively rich Chinese society in overall scale," said
Zhang Xiaodi, professor with the prestigious Zhejiang University.
Zhang made an in-depth probe into the SARS impact on Chinese and
Zhejiang economies and on the Chinese government's strategic goal
of building an affluent society.
The central government was determined to set up an effective
cooperative system to offer medicare for 900 million farmers and
the system is scheduled to be expanded to cover all farmers by
2010.
The central government even promised to subsidize 10 yuan, plus
another 10 yuan from a local government, for each farmer in central
and west inland poor areas if they intend to participate in the
cooperative system.
Zhang Xiaodi said the new system shows that the Chinese government
holds great concern over farmers' interests and adopts policies in
people's benefits, and it will fundamentally solve the problem of
millions of farmers unable to afford medical treatment before.
(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2003)
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