City unveils customized inclusive insurance plan

Chinese insurers have geared up to reach more consumers in second-tier cities, or even smaller ones than that, to penetrate a market that still has big potentials.

Zhuzhou City in Hunan Province introduced an inclusive insurance plan for its citizens on Thursday, which will supplement with the national medical insurance and lessen people's burden.

Underwritten by Ping An Pension Insurance, the cover will be available on Tencent’s insurance agency platform WeSure.

Local residents and employees who have been insured by the national medical insurance scheme can get a guarantee up to 2.72 million yuan (US$397,771) by spending 78 yuan a year.

As an effective supplement to the country’s basic medical insurance, the product focuses on protecting people from large-ticket medical expenses, and it can cover general medical expenses, specific drug expenses and make compensation for hospitalization.

According to the latest data from the National Health Commission, the total national health expenditure in 2019 is estimated to reach 6.51 trillion yuan, with 28.4 percent of that being paid out of pocket.

Compared with private health products, inclusive insurance plans allow ordinary citizens to obtain more protection at a very low cost and have positive significance for preventing the insured from becoming poor due to illness, WeSure noted.

The platform plans to join as many as 100 local governments and insurance companies to provide inclusive insurance services for local citizens.

So far, cities like Changsha, Zunyi, Fuzhou and Dongguan have seen relevant products launched.