Over 95 pct Chinese covered by basic medical insurance

BEIJING -- More than 95 percent of Chinese were covered by the country's national basic health insurance programs in 2019, according to statistics released by the National Healthcare Security Administration.

Under the programs, urban and rural residents in China could have over 60 percent of their hospitalization expenses reimbursed in 2019, according to an annual communique on development of medical security.

In 2019, 329 million Chinese were covered by the national basic health insurance program for urban employed and another 1.02 billion by the plan for urban and rural residents, said the communique.

The revenue of the fund under the national basic medical insurance programs reached more than 2.44 trillion yuan (around $346.13 billion) in 2019, the communique said, noting the amount represented 2.5 percent of China's GDP in the year.

The total amount spent from the fund in 2019 rose 12.2 percent to about 2.09 trillion yuan, it added.