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Experts concern over medical reform

By Xie Qi (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-04-26 15:52

Experts from theBeijingNormal University who are participating in the 7th reform planning program of the Chinese medical system made suggestions on making health care more cost effective and at the same time give the best treatment to patients.

By reforming the medical system, the government can make sure every patient has basic medical cure, said an expert at the committee of 7th medical reform planning. The committee recommends the government take responsibility for having a large enough budget for health care, and give support to every patient by fixing budget.

As a result patients do not need to pay hospitals directly; they can buy medical insurance from the government, and then, the government will pay the hospitals according to how many people take part in the medical insurance. This way can ensure every patient can obtain the necessary service from hospitals.

Follow the 7th reform planning, the government will fix budget depends on the number of patients, so doctors are forced to choose to treat patients at the lowest cost, in other words, hospitals should find a balance between cost and efficiency.

The experts in the reform planning stress the government should be responsible for raising enough funds for healthcare. And this can be done through taxes and social insurance. People who can afford medical insurance should buy it, and the government will support those who cannot pay for it, an amount estimated at 20 billion yuan (US$2.6 billion). This will reduce healthcare bills by 100 billion yuan (US$13 billion), which is much lower than the budget for the Ministry of Health.

Most of the committee members agree on this point, however, they have quite different ideas on tackling other related problems. For example, some think it is difficult to set up a system of buying medical services. To carry out the purchasing medical service will be a major obstacle of the 7th reform program.

Before the deadline in making the final decision, May 20,they would look into the idea of purchasing medical services and a market model advocated by the 7th reform planning, said one official in the Ministry of Finance. Some experts said the final program in the principle of low cost, efficient and easy to implement.

At the same time, some media outlets think the 7th medical reform program still has some serious problems to deal with. A report from Xinkuai News thinks this program is unfair to people who pay for the insurance to support others who don't pay for it. Another fault is when budgets are stretched too thin, and then medical treatment may suffer.