The Imperfections And Reconstruction Of Fujian Province's Rural Medical Security System

Medical security system, directly related to people's health and quality improvement, is an indispensable part of China's social security system. With its Chinese characteristics and farmers as its covering population, the new-type rural cooperative medicare system is a basic form of China's medical security system and is sponsored and guided by the government and supported by other organizations. Farmers, by following the principles of at-will participation, benefit-reception and suitability, can raise medical care funds for themselves through various cooperative methods and thus lower their economic burden and have their health insured.Since 2004, Anxi County in Quanzhou Region, Xinluo District of Longyan City, and Tongan District of Xiamen City have been assigned by Fujian Province to pilot the new rural cooperative medicare system and, the local management committees led by local leaders, operational agencies and supervision committees have also been established. While progressed conspicuously in the two-odd years, implementation of the piloting system nevertheless comes across many difficulties due to the short period of time and the system's own complexities. At present, it still cannot bestow a lot of benefits on the farmers and accordingly, quite a lot of farmers are in their hesitations to apply for it. Then, what on earth leads to such an embarrassed situation? Through investigations and analyses, a series of systematical deficiencies are uncovered: although not without its "new" contents, the system is generallybelieved to be a "revamped and still old" version; the principle of at-will participation resulted in its "insufficiency for the rich, unaffordability for the poor "; its mistaken step of seeking wide coverage by "low-level" fund-raising; and its huge managing costs that would threaten its healthy development.This thesis first expounds the relevant economic theories about social medical security system. By learning both international and domestic lessons in medicare system establishment, and based on the analyses of the status quo of Fujian's rural cooperative medicare system and Fujian Province's realities, it then attentively puts forward some measures to improve the system and practice, in a hope to serve as some reference for the perfection of Fujian Province's new-type rural cooperative medicare system.