Budget insurance benefits patients on proton and heavy ion radiation treatment
A patient is treated at Shanghai Proton and Heavy Ion Center.
About 70 percent of local patients receiving the expensive proton and heavy ion radiation treatment are covered by Huhuibao (沪惠保), a private budget supplementary medical insurance for Shanghai residents, according to Shanghai Proton and Heavy Ion Center.
Since Huhuibao took effect in July 2021, the center has helped nearly 300 patients get some 32 million yuan (US$4.7 million) in reimbursement from Huhuibao, greatly easing patients' financial burden. The some 300,000-yuan radiation treatment is not covered by the government-run medical insurance plan.
The center, which uses cutting-edge proton and heavy ion beams to target and kill cancerous tissue without harming healthy tissues and cells, is the first facility of its kind in China and the third in the world.
It served 1,025 patients last year, the highest among all similar facilities, let alone the impact from COVID-19 pandemic.
By the end of last year, the center treated over 5,300 patients after running for over seven years, with a 20 percent annual increase.
The hospital primarily targets brain, lung, liver, prostate and nasopharynx cancers as key cancers for clinical treatments, and pancreatic and breast cancers for key clinical research. Patients with these seven cancers account for three-fourths of total quantity.
It also makes full use of the two radiation technologies by offering a combined therapy with both beams to eligible patients.
Hospital officials said they will enhance clinical research and is planning on the second-phase project with one more radiation machine being introduced.
