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E-mail China.org.cn, October 11, 2024
Xing Huina:
One last question, please.
Tide News:
The third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee outlined the need to improve the fertility support policy system and incentive mechanisms, and to promote the development of a fertility-friendly society. Could you please share some of the successful experiences and practices of the health care security system in building a fertility-friendly society? And what new policies can we expect in the future? Thank you.
Zhang Ke:
Thank you for your questions. The population issue is crucial for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation. The NHSA is committed to implementing the strategic decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. We are focusing on effectively managing basic medical insurance and maternity insurance, actively exploring ways to improve policies and measures for maternity insurance, and aligning these efforts with relevant economic and social policies to jointly build a supportive policy system for childbearing.
On the one hand, we continue to leverage the protection function of maternity insurance. While maternity insurance is a separate insurance program, it is now implemented in conjunction with basic medical insurance for employees. This helps reduce the burden of maternity medical expenses for insured female employees, balance the labor costs of employers, and promote fair employment opportunities for women. Maternity insurance covers both employers and employees, ensuring coverage for maternity medical expenses and maternity allowance during the mandated maternity leave period. In recent years, the protective function of maternity insurance has continued to be fully utilized. In 2023, 249 million people were covered by maternity insurance nationwide, with the expenditure of the maternity insurance fund reaching 117.7 billion yuan. The average maternity allowance for insured female employees was 26,000 yuan. To clarify, the maternity allowance is essentially the wage during maternity leave. We often hear discussions about whether maternity leave wages should be paid by the husband's employer or the wife's employer. In fact, neither is correct, because maternity leave wages are paid by medical insurance, specifically maternity insurance. Currently, there are two methods for distributing maternity leave wages, or maternity allowances. One method is to pay it directly to the female employee, and the other is to pay it to the employee's company, which then distributes it to the employee. Recently, we have also consulted with the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) to gather their input. Going forward, we will explore ways to distribute maternity allowances (maternity leave wages) more directly to female employees. Of course, we acknowledge that some regions have local regulations that require allowances to be paid to the company first, which then pays the employee. We will encourage relevant regions to conduct careful research on this matter.
On the other hand, in response to the national population strategy and requirements, we are implementing multiple measures to improve and enforce proactive fertility support policies. This primarily involves expanding and consolidating maternity insurance coverage. We support certain regions in exploring flexible approaches, allowing self-employed individuals to participate in maternity insurance alongside employee medical insurance. We have already guided provinces such as Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Guizhou as well as Tianjin to carry out these explorations across their regions, and the results have been very positive. At the same time, we are standardizing and regulating the pricing of assisted reproductive medical services and promoting the inclusion of assisted reproductive technology projects in medical insurance coverage. We are guiding provinces to consider factors such as the capacity of medical insurance funds and the regulations on assisted reproductive technologies, gradually including suitable assisted reproductive technology projects in the scope of medical insurance fund payments through proper procedures. This aims to help resolve the issues faced by families who wish to have children but are unable or unwilling to do so. Currently, 20 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, including Beijing, Guangxi, Inner Mongolia and Gansu, as well as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, have included assisted reproductive medical services in medical insurance reimbursement. By the end of this year, more provinces are expected to include these services in medical insurance reimbursement. Recognizing that childbirth can be a significant physical and emotional experience, we have expanded our offerings to include pain management options, doula delivery and family companionship during labor. These services aim to meet the diverse needs of mothers and improve the childbirth experience. Additionally, we continue to enhance the administrative services for maternity insurance, requiring localities to implement the standards for minimum application materials, simplest procedures, shortest processing time and highest service quality. We have streamlined the process and clarified that enjoying maternity insurance benefits no longer requires providing unnecessary additional documents such as a birth permit, maternity service certificate or marriage certificate, to facilitate access to benefits for the insured.
Building on Mr. Yan's introduction, new mothers often have a significant concern right after childbirth. Some babies may need to be placed in an incubator or undergo surgery immediately after birth, while the mother has not yet left her hospital bed. How can we ensure that the newborns receive timely and effective treatment? We have implemented a seamless newborn enrollment process, which allows parents to use a cellphone from the bedside to enroll the baby in insurance and obtain reimbursement immediately. This ensures better coverage and protection for the baby's medical expenses and treatment. These measures create more favorable conditions and more convenient services for proactive fertility policies.
Next, we will continue to guide various regions in effectively managing maternity insurance and basic medical insurance. We will continue to improve and refine the maternity insurance system, enhance its protective functions, expand its coverage and steadily increase the level of coverage for insured individuals' maternity medical expenses. At the same time, we will strengthen coordination between departments, promote the establishment of a policy system for fertility support, and work together to foster long-term balanced population development. Thank you.
Xing Huina:
Due to time constraints, today's press conference is hereby concluded. Thank you to the three speakers and friends from the media. Goodbye.
Translated and edited by Yan Bin, Huang Shan, Liu Jianing, Li Xiao, Wang Qian, Mi Xingang, Wang Wei, Zhang Tingting, Liu Sitong, Xu Kailin, Wang Yanfang, Liu Caiyi, Li Huiru, David Ball, Jay Birbeck, and Rochelle Beiersdorfer. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.
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