Li Caiyun and her husband do not need to worry about expensive
hospital bills now, because their company has joined a local
government medical insurance pilot scheme, specially designed for
migrant workers.
It takes them only 10 minutes to walk to their local healthcare
center, where they spend as little as 20 yuan (US$2.5) for
medicines for ailments such as colds and fevers, said the couple
from east China's
Anhui Province.
Before the scheme, they had to spend about 100 yuan (US$12.5)
for medicine to cure a simple cold at a government-funded hospital,
which is several kilometers away from their home.
After a successful one-year trial of the pilot scheme, Shenzhen
municipal government recently decided to extend it across the whole
city, not just districts inhabited by migrant workers.
According to the scheme, companies buy medical insurance for
their employees by paying 8 yuan (US$1) a month.
Employees like Li Caiyun, who works with her husband at a
furniture company in Longgang District of Shenzhen, have to pay
just 4 yuan (50 US cents) every month.
Migrant workers need to spend just 12 yuan (US$1.5) to see
doctors at a designated clinic or healthcare center, and are
reimbursed if the charge for a single service is less than 90 yuan
(US$11).
Hospital patients can claim back all of their medical bills, up
to a maximum of 60,000 yuan (US$7,400).
It is one of the first trials in the country to solve the
problem of rising medical costs for low-income migrant workers.
Official figures show that 5,500 companies joined the scheme by
the end of last year and at least 1.2 million migrant workers are
covered.
A total of 132 designated medical centers have treated 3.85
million outpatients and 1,206 inpatients.
Guan Lingen, director of Shenzhen Labor and Social Securities
Bureau, said the scheme is expected to help 3 million migrant
laborers by the end of this year, or nearly half of the total
migrant labor force in the city.
To further crack down on unlicensed clinics, which many migrant
workers chose to visit before the implementation of the scheme
because of convenience and low charges, the government plans to set
up a clinic and a community healthcare service center in all
districts with migrant workers.
(China Daily April 3, 2006)