China to expand critical illness insurance

China will expand its critical illness insurance system to cover more urban and rural residents, authorities have said.
All participants in the country's basic medical insurance system for urban and rural residents will be protected against critical illness by the end of this year, according to an official statement.
The coverage of China's basic medical insurance system for urban and rural residents exceeded 95 per cent by the end of last year, reaching more than 1.3 billion people, official data showed yesterday.
By the end of September last year, about 650 million Chinese were covered by critical illness insurance.
Under China's critical illness insurance scheme, when a patient's medical bills for necessary treatments using the existing basic medical insurance system exceed a certain level, he or she will receive reimbursements from the scheme, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The reimbursement ratio should reach at least 50 per cent this year and will increase gradually in future, according to the State Council.

A relatively sound system for critical illness insurance will be established by 2017, the council said.
In 2014, the critical illness insurance program helped 1.15 million patients in China, with the total fund reserve for the program reaching 9.7 billion yuan (USD 1.6 billion).
During yesterday's meeting, the State Council also urged market regulators to promote random inspections on companies in various sectors to help foster a fair business environment.
It also said the development pattern of the country's agriculture must be transformed to be more based on technology, scale of economy and safety.

By 2020, the use of fertilisers and pesticides in the country should increase no more, according to the State Council.