The ongoing health insurance reform will not change the attribution of personal accounts, while offering more benefits to insured people such as supporting the reimbursement of general outpatient bills, an official of China's National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) said on Saturday.
Analysts noted that the reform doesn't mean any curtailment of benefits for insured people, which will utilize the funds from personal accounts more efficiently, especially for elderly who normally incur higher medical expenses.
Responding to some public concerns regarding the reduced amount deposited each month into personal accounts, the official said that the reform is intended to adjust the contribution from employers to personal accounts as a "replacement" to support reimbursement of general outpatient bills.
The reform will provide outpatient reimbursement for more areas, while increasing the reimbursement levels for areas already covered.
The attribution of the personal accounts will remain unchanged and payments made by employees will still flow into each holder's personal accounts, while retirees do not need to pay for personal accounts.
In terms of changes for employees, funds deposited by employers into personal accounts will be directly paid to the pooled fund for outpatient reimbursement instead of placed in personal accounts. The amount of deposits into retirees' accounts will be adjusted based on the changes of standards.
