China improves world's largest basic healthcare network

BEIJING -- China is improving the world's largest network for basic healthcare security which covers about 95 percent of the country's 1.4 billion population.

Hu Jinglin, head of the National Healthcare Security Administration, said at a press conference that between 2018 and 2022, the coverage of the country's basic medical insurance schemes had stayed at around 95 percent of the total population.

The official said the authorities' efforts to make more medicines treating cancers and rare diseases reimbursable under the medical insurance programs at reasonable prices have saved relevant patients over 500 billion yuan (about 71.46 billion U.S. dollars) in costs.

Hu also noted that over the past five years, relevant authorities maintained a heavy-handed approach to supervising the funds and doing inspections in various forms, including random and routine checks and special supervision campaigns.

He said the administration would strengthen the supervision efforts, including special crackdowns on fraud in using the funds, and encourage the whole society to partake in the supervision.