Supplementary insurance well received in Zibo

Over 1.21 million residents in Zibo, a city in Shandong Province, have taken out an inclusive medical insurance, equivalent to one in four of the city’s population.

The government-guided inclusive plan, which has been promoted for the past two months, is said to be affordable and offers supplementary protections.

The male to female ratio of those insured is 4:6 and more than half of them are in the 30-45 age group. In addition, nearly 40 percent chose to buy protection for their parents.

In Zibo, a total of 4.28 million of residents are under protection of the national basic medical insurance program. They are all qualified for being insured and can get a guarantee up to 2 million yuan (US$303,969) by spending as low as 99 yuan a year without age and occupation limitations and there is no need for physical examination.

The success of the supplementary medical cover is attributable to the strong support of local government as well as the strict supervision of relevant departments on product design and pricing, said Tencent’s insurance agency platform WeSure, which offers the customized protection solution for Shandong Province.

Latest data from the National Health Commission shows that total national health expenditure in 2019 is estimated to reach 6.519 trillion yuan, with 28.4 percent of that being paid out of pocket.

To fill the gap, the central government issued opinions which encourage the development of supplementary medical insurance.

As of November, such inclusive insurance has been rolled out in more than 158 cities in 21 provinces, with more than 20 million people participating and over 1 billion yuan paid in premiums.