A Russian woman became the 10,000th foreigner to enroll in China’s basic medical insurance in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, on Wednesday, local authorities confirmed.
Yiwu, known as the “world’s small commodity capital,” maintains trade links with 233 countries and regions and attracts nearly 600,000 foreign merchants annually.
With about 30,000 foreign businesspeople active in the city each day and over 1,500 family members living locally, demand for accessible healthcare has grown.
Previously, only foreigners employed by local enterprises could access insurance, leaving self-employed individuals and their families uninsured. To address this, the Yiwu Medical Insurance Bureau, supported at the national level, launched a program allowing foreigners with at least two-year residence permits to enroll as flexible employees. This initiative grants them the same benefits as Chinese residents.
Eligible foreigners pay premiums at the same rates as locals and receive identical coverage, including reimbursement scopes and ratios. The program also extends to foreign children enrolled in Yiwu schools.
Since 2019, foreign beneficiaries have used the medical insurance for 95,400 cases, with cumulative fund expenditures exceeding 24 million yuan (around 3.4 million U.S. dollars).
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