The message that the free healthcare enjoyed by civil servants will be incorporated into the general employees' medical insurance system is the first step in reform of public welfare.

The medical costs of all 450,000 of the civil servants in the Beijing municipal government and its affiliated county and district governments have already been merged into employees' medical insurance since Jan 1, and the change will be extended to civil servants in the central government next year.

The move shows the authority's determination and courage to kick-start a reform that may not be to its own benefit, and the public is looking forward to seeing more local authorities at various levels following its lead.

The reason people have been calling for reform of the medical insurance system is there is a marked discrepancy between the reimbursement levels enjoyed by civil servants and those of other citizens.

However, the change does little to make the system more equitable as it means civil servants now have more hospitals to choose from than before and they can get exclusive supplementary insurance, which means that their medical service level will still remain much higher than that of other citizens.

Medical insurance is a basic public service provided by the State. Any reform in this field should be conducive to realizing public service equalization, instead of creating new inequalities.

Greater efforts are needed to lower the medical service reimbursement level for civil servants and to increase that of other employees.

(China Daily 01/19/2012 page8)