A pilot cooperative medical scheme for migrant workers, the
first ever in China, has proved successful since it was started in
March 2005. By the yearend 1.24 million migrant workers were
covered under the scheme, which involves 5,500 enterprises and 132
medical units, according to a Workers' Daily report on
Tuesday.
Guan Lingen, director of the Shenzhen Labor and Social Security
Bureau, said that the scheme will benefit more migrant workers in
2006, an estimated 3 million by the end of the year, and will not
be restricted to workers in the manufacturing industry.
Under the scheme, migrant workers pay four yuan (US$0.5) per
month into a special fund, which covers them for outpatient and
inpatient medical services. Their employers pay eight yuan per
month for them. Of the monthly deposit, six yuan goes toward
outpatient medical costs, five yuan to inpatient costs, and one
yuan to emergencies.
Outpatient medication is also covered under the scheme. The cost
of category A and B drugs, as classified under the national basic
medical insurance system, is reduced by 80 and 60 percent
respectively.
Further, workers insured under the scheme do not have to pay for
outpatient visits that cost less than 90 yuan.
The scheme also provides cheaper services in Class I, II and III
hospitals in the city and Class III hospital outside of the city.
Costs are 90, 80, 70 and 60 percent less respectively. The ceiling
for the annual reduction of inpatient cost is 60,000 yuan.
"I spent only seven yuan to treat a cold and a throat
inflammation. It's so cheap," said Wang Jiangyue, a female migrant
worker from
Shaanxi Province. The seven yuan she paid covered three
injections and two days' worth of medicine, which would have cost
her between 70 and 80 yuan otherwise.
Liu Xiaosha, a migrant worker from
Henan Province, said that the medical insurance cover he had
previously only paid for inpatient costs. "Two outpatient visits to
treat a cold cost me 200 yuan before. But now, under the new
scheme, I can save 100 yuan a year," he said.?
Another worker, who asked not to be named, said: "In the past,
when someone fell ill, he or she would have to go to a hospital
several kilometers away or buy some medication from a roadside drug
store. Now that the healthcare center in the community has joined
the pilot scheme, it's more convenient and safer for us to see a
doctor."
According to Shen Hualiang, another official with the bureau,
132 medical units were appointed for the pilot scheme, of which 18
are hospital headquarters, and 114 subordinated community health
care centers or stations. Of these units, six are private, and the
other 126 are government-funded.
In addition, workers covered by the scheme are issued with a
"Labor and Social Security Card."
When the scheme first started, many enterprises chose to take a
wait-and-see approach. Seeing the initial success of the scheme,
they realized that it would actually be beneficial for them to
participate in it.
Liu Jinhua, a manager with Shenzhen-based Fuqun Group, said that
the company buys medical insurance for over 6,000 employees at a
cost of 25.5 yuan per month for each person. "Now, we only have to
pay eight yuan per month for each person, which means we save about
100,000 yuan every month."
In line with Shenzhen's policies, enterprises had to pay the
equivalent of 8 percent of employees' monthly salaries toward
medical insurance between 1992 and 1996; from 1996 to 2003, this
was reduced to 2 percent of monthly wages; from July 2003, the rate
of contribution was further reduced to 1 percent.
Medical facilities, especially grassroots medical institutions,
also benefit from participation in the scheme.
"Before we joined the scheme, our monthly revenue was between
10,000 and 20,000 yuan. It's now about 60,000 yuan. We are much
busier than before," Ye Huizhen, superintendent of Bantian Health
Care Center under Buji People's Hospital in Longgang District, told
Workers' Daily.
For Dalang Community Health Care Center in Longhua Town, the
annual turnover before they joined the scheme was about 200,000
yuan. Now, the center, with a register of 46,000 migrant workers
covered under the scheme, earns about 276,000 yuan in outpatient
fee every month for providing cooperative medical service from the
city's Cooperative Medical Insurance Fund Management Center.
Another advantage of the scheme is that it is forcing unlicensed
medical or health care centers that typically overcharge patients
to close.
The scheme also gives patients the freedom to choose a medical
center or hospital in which to receive treatment. And with a wider
distribution of medical services, the scheme is in line with the
country's policy that encourages patients to seek treatment for
minor conditions in community or neighborhood medical centers,
resorting to hospitals only in case of more serious ailments and
emergencies.
According to public health statistics, average outpatient costs
in the three city-level Class III hospitals of Shenzhen are double
that of a community hospital, while hospitalization costs are 3.1
times more. Under the scheme, the average outpatient cost for a
migrant worker was 56.76 yuan, much lower than the 134.5 yuan the
city's urban resident had to pay in the first half of 2005.
The bureau plans to implement the scheme across the city this
March.?
(China.org.cn by Zhang Yunxing, February 10, 2006)