Businesses ready for health plan

China's healthcare reform plan will create a huge potential market for health-services providers, pharmaceutical companies and insurers.

"There are still more than 200 million people not covered by basic medical insurance. That will be the priority of the government over the next three years," Hu Xiaoyi, deputy minister of Human Resources and Social Security, said yesterday.

The 850-billion-yuan ($124.3-billion) reform plan encourages the government to purchase medical insurance services and explore ways to involve qualified commercial insurers to provide medical care services.