Jump to content

an Eldis document

Medical financial assistance in rural China: policy design and implementation

Reviewing China's Medical Financial Assistance programme

Authors: Xu, Y.; Zhang, X.; Zhu, X.
Publisher: Studies in Health Services Organisation and Policy

Full text of document

Since the latter half of the 1990s, social assistance has received increasing attention from the Chinese government as an integral part of its overall social protection system. This chapter in the book 'Health and social protection; experiences from Cambodia, China and Lao' by Studies in Health Services Organisation and Policy, reviews the development of the Medical Financial Assistance program (MFA) in rural China, including design and implementation processes, and assesses major areas for improvement. Jointly financed by the central and local governments, MFA provides cash assistance to poor households for the purchase of medical services. Because policy design and implementation are decentralized to local governments, the schemes vary markedly across localities in terms of financing, benefit levels and payment methods.

Constrained by limited financial resources, MFA benefits are granted only when recipients qualify by meeting a number of conditions. This Chapter argues that these conditions are disadvantageous to the poor, leading in general to low utilization of benefits by poor households. With increased financial input from central and local governments, the MFA schemes have been improved compared to their early design. However, additional institutionalized funding sources are needed in order to improve the policy further.

Document information

Subscribe

Regular email updates. What's new on the subjects you are interested in.

More

Contribute

Share your publications. Advertise your jobs and events

More

Newsfeed

xmlAdd Eldis content to your website, intranet or desktop.