China rolls out nationwide reform to allow shared access to employee health insurance accounts

BEIJING -- China has further reformed its health insurance program to allow more individuals to use their relatives' account balances to cover medical expenses. Under a program that has been extended to all provincial regions in China as of Dec 9, eligible holders of employee health insurance can link their personal accounts to the health insurance of close relatives through online channels, enabling shared access to funds, the National Healthcare Security Administration announced on Thursday. According to data from the NHSA, between January and November 2024, around 325 million instances of shared use of employee health insurance personal accounts were recorded. In terms of spending, 34.31 billion yuan was used for personal medical expenses at designated healthcare institutions, 2.07 billion yuan for expenses at designated retail pharmacies, and 7.48 billion yuan for various purposes including individual contributions to the residential basic health insurance program. Currently, all provincial regions in China have implemented the sharing of employee health insurance personal accounts within their respective areas, with cross-provincial sharing still being rolled out.