Chinanews, Beijing, Nov. 27 – At present, individuals in China shoulder 53.6% of their medical costs. The figure might best help explain why people often complain that “medical services are too costly.”

 

Who presented this figure? It was not by anybody else but the minister of health himself.

 

In his recent article published in the People's Daily, Chinese Minister of Health Gaoqiang points out that in China, surging medical costs have already aroused much social concern. In a set of figures released by him, the minister says that from 1980 to 2004, Chinese people's total medical costs jumped from 14.3 billion to 759 billion yuan. In 1980, one might bear 21% of one's medical costs but in 2004, the proportion jumped to 53.6%. As result, most people felt that medical services had become much more expensive than before.

 

The set of figures released by the minister shows that during the past 24 years, the proportion of medical costs for individual Chinese increased by 32.6%, or at a yearly rate of 1.36%. As the minister points out in his article, high medical costs have alreay become an outstanding problem in the medical service system.

 

What should the government do then?

 

In his article, the minister says that on the one hand, the government should adjust the current fiscal expenditure structure by allocating more money to the medical health system, so that a long-term, stable financial scheme might be established in the medical field. On the other hand, Chinese government should allocate more money to improve the healthcare system in the central and western regions, and in those poor areas, to narrow the gaps in public health and basic healthcare systems between rural and urban areas, and among different regions.