China expands coverage of outpatient bill reimbursement

BEIJING -- An official from China's National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) said Friday that outpatient bill reimbursement has been expanded to 99 percent of the places incorporated in the unified medical insurance accounts for employees as of August.

Fu Chaoqi from the NHSA said at a press conference that 320,900 medical institutions have been covered by outpatient bill reimbursement through unified accounts by August, and over 124 billion yuan (about $17.3 billion) of the bills have been refunded.

In addition, 141,400 authorized drug stores in 25 provincial regions have been covered by unified medical accounts as of August, and 174 million bills have been reimbursed, claiming over 6.9 billion yuan of medical insurance funds.

Government subsidies for medical insurance for urban and rural residents have been increasing, said the administration.

The per capita government subsidies for medical insurance for urban and rural residents rose from 490 yuan in 2018 to 640 yuan in 2023. Subsidies for medical insurance for urban and rural residents have reached 384 billion yuan during 2023.