Economy

Farmers' medical burden lightened

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-12-13 11:15

LANZHOU - Hospital visits by farmers in an impoverished northwest China county have more than doubled over the last five years -- not because of more illness, but because the ill can now afford treatment.

The hospitalization rate of residents in Yuzhong county, of Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province, rose to 6.85 percent last year from 2.94 percent in 2006, said Xu Aimin, vice director of Yuzhong health office.

The increase is thanks to the rural cooperative medical care system under which participants can claim back more than 40 percent of the cost of hospital care.

About 833 million rural Chinese, 94 percent of the rural population, had joined the system by the end of last year, according to the Ministry of Health.

Under the Yuzhong system, a cooperative fund of 160 yuan ($23.79) per person is collected each year, with the central government contributing 60 yuan, local governments 70 yuan and individual farmers 30 yuan.

Bai Xiazhi, a farmer in Sanjiaocheng Town, Yuzhong County, spent 700 yuan ($104) for a week in hospital, but the new rural cooperative medical care system gave her 450 yuan back.

"This system has really lightened our load," Bai's husband, Zhang Lei, said as the couple left the township hospital after Bai's recovery from a throat condition.

Easing fears

The rural cooperative medical care system was initiated in 2003 as a pilot program to help farmers recover some of their medical costs when seriously ill.

About 94 percent of the rural population of 380,000 in Yuzhong county has signed up to the system since 2006.

Last year, a total of 25,189 patients were hospitalized at an average cost of 2,812.8 yuan per person, but their average reimbursement rate was 46.79 percent, much higher than that of 28.26 percent in 2006.

The fund paid out an average 43-percent reimbursement rate in the first 10 months this year on an average 3,316 yuan spent by 17,432 hospital patients.

The rising reimbursements rate was due to higher government contributions, easing farmers' fears of expensive medical treatment, said Xu Aimin.

Most farmers in the county could afford medical treatment as the fund would cover up to the annual limit of 50,000 yuan, 15 times a local farmer's net annual income.

Xu said that in his previous experience as local government official, he had to find excuses to collect money from farmers to maintain the operation of rural hospitals.

Now the government provided financial aid to rural hospitals, which gave hope to all Chinese farmers that they could enjoy affordable medical treatment, he said.

"It was hard to believe in the past that the farmers' medical costs would be paid in this way by the state," Xu said.

More funding

Expanding the cooperative medical care system is one step in China's health care reform strategy to introduce cheaper medical services for all.

The government in April 2009 unveiled a three-year plan for national health care reform with an investment of at least 850 billion yuan.

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The government had invested an "unprecedented" 500 billion yuan in health care since then, particularly helping grassroots medical institutions, Vice Minister of Health Zhang Mao told Xinhua on Nov 30.

The reforms aim to solve the pressing complaints from the public, said Zhang, referring to criticisms that the Chinese health care system is difficult to access and increasingly unaffordable.

Since August 2009, more than half of China's medical clinics in rural townships and small urban communities have been offering essential medications at low prices thanks to the health care reform, said a statement issued after an executive meeting of the State Council, or the Cabinet, presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao last Monday.

To ensure low income-earners can afford essential medications, the State Council pledged to provide additional funding to the country's medical institutions in small townships and cities.

The statement called for government authorities to offer more subsidies for rural medical practitioners and village-based clinics.

The hospital in Yuzhong County's Sanjiaocheng Town joined the reform in July.

"The low prices of essential medications helped cut at least 20 percent off farmers' medical costs," said Wang Wenbin, director of the township hospital.