China's Health Care Delivery System
In nations all across the globe, health care reform has been, and continues to be, a major public policy and public administration challenge. China is certainly no exception. In 2016, the China Joint Study Partnership published a detailed report on health care reform in China. The Foreword to the report was co-signed by three P.R.C. Ministers (Ministers of Finance, National Health and Family Planning Commission, and Human Resources and Social Security) as well as by the President of the World Bank Group and the Director-General of the World Health Organization. The Foreword to the report read in part: "The report's main theme is the need for China to transition its health care delivery system toward people-centered, high quality, integrated care built on the foundation of a strong primary care system...The report focuses not only on the top-level design for reform; it also addresses the importance of how to make reform work on the ground."
a. Do you think that present-day China's health care delivery system needs to be reformed? Why/Why not?
b. How, if at all, should health care reform address the needs of the growing elderly population?
China’s Healthcare
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China’s healthcare system has largely been successful in meeting the medical, public health needs and challenges faced by its population. The government has instituted several reforms since 1985 to improve its health sector through financing, pharmaceutical provision, and affordable and easily accessible healthcare. Despite all these wins, an increased aging population and uneven distribution of public health services are threatening the government’s ability to deliver proper healthcare, making reforms vital.
The rapid increase in the elderly population is proving to be a challenge in providing sustainable medical care through medical insurance. It is estimated that the population aged sixty years and above has risen and is expected to hit 522 million people by 2050, up from 263 million in 2020. Further, the number of those aged eighty and above is significantly increasing and is expected to rise to 55 million by 2030 and 133 by 2050 (Ge et al., 2020, pp.86-88). As a result, there is a rise in medical expenses primarily due to chronic and non-communicable diseases, which will raise the expenditure on medical insurance, making it unable to cater to all their medical needs. Since most of them will not be