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Speakers:

Mr. Zhang Ke, commissioner of the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA)

Ms. Li Tao, deputy commissioner of the NHSA

Mr. Yan Qinghui, deputy commissioner of the NHSA

Chairperson:

Ms. Xing Huina, deputy director general of the Press Bureau of the State Council Information Office (SCIO) and spokesperson of the SCIO

Date:

Sept. 10, 2024

Xing Huina:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference held by the State Council Information Office (SCIO) as part of the series "Promoting High-Quality Development." Today, we have invited Mr. Zhang Ke, commissioner of the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA), to brief you on relevant developments and answer your questions. Ms. Li Tao and Mr. Yan Qinghui, both deputy commissioners of the NHSA, are also present today.

Now, I'll invite Mr. Zhang to give his introduction.

Zhang Ke:

Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the media, good morning. First, I would like to thank you all for your long-standing interest in, understanding and support for the development of the health care sector.

General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly stated that the fundamental goal of establishing China's basic medical insurance system is to relieve people of worries about diseases and health care services. Since the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has adhered to a people-centered development philosophy. It has attached great importance to ensuring and improving people's livelihoods, continuously strengthened overall leadership and planning of medical security work, and established the world's largest medical security network. The NHSA has resolutely implemented the major decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee. We have vigorously promoted the experience of medical reform in the city of Sanming, strengthened the top-level design of the medical insurance system, and promoted the coordinated development and governance of medical services, medical insurance, and pharmaceuticals. We have expanded medical insurance coverage, raised its protection standards, improved our management and services, so as to continuously enhance people's sense of gain.

We remain committed to institutional development, as well as regulating and improving the medical insurance system. We have established a robust three-tiered basic medical security system encompassing basic medical insurance, major disease insurance, and medical assistance. We've formulated a list of medical insurance benefits, unified the national medical insurance drug catalog, and promoted standardized medical insurance system, policies and coverage nationwide. We've steadily enhanced the capacity for financing basic medical insurance, improved long-term mechanisms for medical insurance coverage, with coverage of basic medical insurance reaching 95% of the population, maintaining a stable scale of fund revenue and expenditure. We have done everything within our capacity to scientifically determine the coverage and standards of medical insurance schemes. The reimbursement rates for hospitalization expenses covered by related policies remain at around 80% for urban employees' medical insurance and 70% for rural and non-working urban residents' medical insurance.

We continue to prioritize people's needs by improving the quality of health care protections. We have consolidated and improved inpatient coverage, ensured outpatient care for chronic and special diseases. Outpatient expenditures are covered by funds under unified management in the basic medical insurance system for urban employees. A mechanism has been established to guarantee outpatient medicines for treating high blood pressure and diabetes for rural and non-working urban residents. We've aligned basic medical insurance schemes for rural residents and non-working urban residents, integrated maternity insurance and basic medical insurance for urban employees, enhanced the general support capacity of unified accounts, and improved the level of benefits and security for insured groups. We have sped up the completion of the medical insurance and medical assistance system against fatal and serious diseases, and establishedlong-term mechanisms to prevent people from falling back into poverty due to illness. To address the aging population, we've steadily advanced pilot programs on long-term care insurance, which cover 49 cities and 180 million people. We have also implemented measures to boost the birth rate. Already, 20 provinces and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have included assisted reproductive technologies (ART), such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), in medical insurance coverage.

We remain committed to deepening reforms to enhance public health and welfare. We have institutionalized and regularized bulk government procurement of medicines and medical consumables. We have organized nine rounds of national centralized procurement of medicines and four rounds of national centralized procurement for high-value medical consumables. At the same time, we have guided and promoted centralized procurement at the local government level for drugs not included in national centralized procurement. We have deepened medical service reforms, and established a dynamic adjustment mechanism to better reflect medical workers' contributions. We have innovated catalog access negotiations, resulting in 3,088 medicines now listed. This encompasses commonly used drugs and those for special and rare diseases. We continue to include newly developed and effective drugs that were previously unaffordable in the catalog. We have deepened reform on medical insurance payment models, encouraging medical institutions to optimize their revenue structures and regulate diagnosis and treatment practices.

We're committed to leveraging digital and intelligent technologies to enhance operational management. We have built a unified national medical insurance information platform to achieve the standardized management of medical insurance data. We have carried out regulation of drug prices listed for public reviews, intensified the monitoring and handling of pharmaceutical price risks, and promoted the monitoring and comparison of drug prices in designated pharmacies. As a result, drug prices have become more transparent, making it more convenient for the public to make choices. We have intensified the supervision of medical insurance funds through ongoing unannounced inspections and targeted actions. We've stepped up the application of intelligent monitoring and big data, promoted the use of drug traceability codes, and established and improved whistleblowing reward mechanisms. We publicly exposed representative cases involving legal violations, standardized the use of medical insurance funds, and protected the money that people rely on to pay their medical bills.

We adhere to a service-oriented approach to optimize medical insurance public services. We have improved the management and service system, included eligible village clinics in the medical insurance settlement network, and provided people with convenient access to medical insurance services. We have developed an online medical insurance service network and mobile app, promoted medical insurance codes and mobile payments, and facilitated online and mobile filing. We've strengthened the direct settlement of medical expenses incurred outside of a patient's home province, enabling cross-provincial direct settlement at the county level for general outpatient expenses and five outpatient chronic and special diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. We are gradually expanding the scope of diseases eligible for cross-provincial direct settlement. We have bolstered one-stop government services in relation to medical insurance and optimized the procedures for medical insurance access, transfer and renewal, benefit claims, and settlement of medical expenses. These improvements make it easier for people seeking medical treatment and purchasing medications.

On the new journey in the new era, the NHSA will thoroughly implement the guiding principles of the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee. We will unswervingly implement the important instructions and directives of General Secretary Xi Jinping regarding the health care sector, striving to promote the high-quality development of medical insurance. These efforts aim to contribute to building a great country and achieving national rejuvenation.

That's all for my introduction. Thank you.