China’s central government has invested 3 trillion yuan ($425.8 billion) in healthcare security since 2018, supporting more than 18 billion medical expense reimbursements nationwide, according to the National Healthcare Security Administration on Wednesday.
Of the total, 2.87 trillion yuan has been allocated to subsidize basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents, one of the country’s two main public health insurance programs.
This year, per capita funding for resident medical insurance reached 1,100 yuan. Government subsidies accounted for 700 yuan, or more than 60 percent, with the remainder paid by individuals.
The administration said the program has strengthened financial protection for residents and improved the stability of the insurance fund.
Between 2018 and 2025, the government also distributed 237.5 billion yuan in medical assistance for low-income and other disadvantaged groups. In 2024 alone, the funding enabled 79.16 million people to enroll in basic medical insurance and supported nearly 200 million outpatient and inpatient medical aid services.
The medical assistance system has played a critical safety-net role, the administration said. Participation in basic medical insurance among low-income and formerly impoverished rural residents has remained above 99 percent, while reimbursement rates for covered expenses exceed 90 percent.
Since 2019, the central government has allocated 27.6 billion yuan to strengthen healthcare security services. A major result has been the creation of a unified national healthcare security information platform.
More than 1.2 billion people now use digital healthcare codes to access medical services through the platform. It processes an average of over 28 million settlement transactions daily, with inpatient expense settlements completed in an average of 0.8 seconds.
Currently, more than 90 percent of commonly used healthcare security services are available online. In addition, over 90 percent of townships and subdistricts provide related services at local healthcare facilities, allowing residents to manage insurance matters within their communities.
From 2019 to 2025, direct cross-province medical expense settlements increased 110-fold. Over the same period, the number of designated medical institutions capable of handling cross-province inpatient settlements rose from 27,600 to 80,000, the administration said.
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