By Fineline Cube 
The General Office of the State Council released the “Guidelines on Further Safeguarding and Improving People’s Livelihoods to Address Urgent Public Concerns,” which include expanded coverage and guarantees for medical insurance payments. The guidelines aim to enhance social insurance participation and benefits.
Key Reforms
The guidelines call for the removal of household registration restrictions on social insurance participation in employment locations, improvement of insurance enrollment incentive mechanisms, refinement of transfer and continuation mechanisms, and a steady increase in the proportion of urban workers enrolled in basic pension and medical insurance. For urban and rural residents’ basic pension insurance, the guidelines propose optimizing contribution tiers, reasonably determining subsidy levels, and increasing payment flexibility.
Target Groups and Incentives
Eligible groups, such as college graduates and individuals facing employment difficulties, will receive social insurance subsidies. The guidelines also emphasize improving the financing mechanism for basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents by linking contributions to per capita disposable income. Those who maintain continuous enrollment or have no claims in a given year will see an increase in the maximum payout limit for critical illness insurance the following year.
Healthcare Model and Insurance Mechanisms
Efforts will be made to establish a telemedicine service network and promote a “distributed testing, centralized diagnosis” healthcare model. The adjustment mechanism for the basic medical insurance drug list will be refined, and a commercial health insurance innovative drug catalog will be introduced to better meet the public’s multi-tiered medication security needs.-Fineline Info & Tech