China Unveils Universal Healthcare Plan

The United States isn’t the only country where universal healthcare is the subject of intense debate. Now, China’s government has unveiled a controversial plan to achieve universal care that would both increase healthcare funding and control prices. On October 14, the National Development and Reform Commission, the macroeconomic management agency of China’s State Council, released the first draft of the plan and invited public comment.

The proposal would be a change for China. The draft plan’s overall goal is to cover 90% of the population within two years and achieve universal care by 2020. Part of the plan is to return to non-profit national healthcare, an idea that was largely abandoned in the country in the 1980s. This stands in contrast to China’s current system, which provides little government funding to government hospitals and requires patients to pay significant out-of-pocket expenses.

The plan—drafted in consultation with outside groups including the World Health Organization, the World Bank, consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and a few Chinese university-based public health experts—would require all revenue raised by public hospitals to be funneled to the state. The government also aims to set pricing standards for medical services.

Chang-Hong Whitney is president of Whitney Consulting Ltd. in Massachusetts. With an MBA from Babson College (Wellesley, MA) and undergraduate degrees in electronic engineering and international business, she has been consulting for western companies on doing business in China since 1994, focusing on the medical device market. Her services include China regulatory affairs, market research, sourcing and logistics programs and China business strategies. She can be reached at [email protected].