China's Premier Wen Jiabao Confirms Major Healthcare Reform
This post was written by Sharon J. Mann, Hugh Scogin, Gordon B. Schatz and Amanda Yang.
At the 2nd Session of the 11th National People’s Congress (NPC) convened on March 5, 2009, China’ Premier Wen Jiabao confirmed the major contents of the healthcare reform in the 2009 Government Work Report. On January 21, 2009, the State Council approved the Opinions on Advancing Healthcare Reform and the Implementation Plan on Advancing Healthcare Reform 2009-2011 in principle. The opinions and the plan are expected to be published after the NPC session, with the Government Work Report representing the first government document that confirms work focuses in the coming healthcare reform program.
According to the Work Report, the Chinese government will spend US$124 billion (850 billion RMB) on healthcare reform between 2009 and 2011, including 331.8 billion RMB from the central government. The funds will be used in five primary areas 1) medical insurance, 2) essential medications, 3) basic healthcare service systems, 4) equal access to basic public health services, and 5) reform of public hospitals.
For additional information, please see Reed Smith’s full alert.
