China's State Council Information Office held a press conference on Friday on the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), introducing measures to promote the high-quality development of the country's medical insurance system and better serve Chinese modernization.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China built the world's largest basic medical insurance system, with coverage remaining stable at around 95%.

The basic medical insurance drug list expanded to 3,253 medicines, while new technologies and programs were brought under insurance coverage. The reimbursement rates for inpatient medical expenses within the scope of the insurance policy reached around 80% for employees and 70% for residents.

Reforms in medical insurance payment methods and centralized bulk-buying programs were rolled out nationwide. All nationwide pooling areas have implemented immediate settlement between medical insurance funds and designated medical institutions. The rate of direct settlement for cross-provincial medical treatment reached 90%.

Medical insurance funds operated safely and steadily, ensuring timely reimbursement for people's medical treatment and medicine purchases.

At the press conference, an official with the National Healthcare Security Administration said that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China aims to:

- continue to strengthen the foundation of its universal medical insurance system and optimize the structure of its insurance coverage, expanding employee medical insurance coverage among key groups, including flexible workers, migrant workers and people in new forms of employment.

- continue to improve maternity medical coverage, enabling direct settlement of maternity-related medical expenses for insured people and direct payment of maternity benefits to individuals.

- establish a nationwide long-term care insurance system, improve policies on long-term care services, and enhance the capacity and quality of such services.

- further advance reforms in medical insurance payment methods to help medical institutions improve quality and efficiency. It will also implement centralized bulk-buying programs for medicines and medical consumables in a more standardized and institutionalized manner, and promote the use of medicine price-comparison mini programs at designated pharmacies nationwide.

- improve medical insurance catalog management, increase support for innovative medicines, medical devices and services, and help Chinese pharmaceutical products reach international markets. It will also strengthen oversight of medical insurance funds and improve whole-process management.

The official added that China plans to streamline medical insurance services, allowing people to access frequently used services outside their home regions or at nearby locations, while expanding the use of facial recognition, one-code, mobile and credit-based payment services, and enabling the shared use of individual accounts under employee medical insurance. 

The measures will make public medical insurance services more convenient and diverse, while improving people's experience with medical insurance services, the official said.

Li Tao, deputy head of the National Healthcare Security Administration, added at the press conference that China will continue to adjust its national medical insurance drug list annually and update the list with more innovative medicines for major diseases such as cancer, chronic diseases, rare diseases and pediatric conditions.

The authorities will also work to establish a nationally unified reimbursement list for medical services and medical supplies, with the aim of narrowing policy differences in medical insurance coverage between regions, Li said.