China’s farmers have just been lifted out of poverty and their medical subsidies have more than doubled
Just after Communist Party President Xi Jinping announced that China has been lifted out of poverty, a village committee in Binyang County, Guangxi, recently issued a notice reminding farmers that the medical insurance subsidy given by the state to each insured farmer ceased on Feb. 28. From March 1, the annual cost of medical insurance that each person must pay rose from 280 yuan to 720 yuan RMB, an increase of more than 2.5 times. According to the commentary, it is alarming to see that farmers’ health insurance has gone from rising year by year to the government’s removal of subsidies.
Two months ago, the Chinese government announced that it had “lifted all people out of poverty”, and on February 25, Beijing held a summing-up and commendation conference for the fight against poverty, at which Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), declared that the fight against poverty had been a comprehensive victory and a “miracle on earth”. The next day (26), the village committee of Gu Ming Village, Binzhou Town, Binyang County, Nanning City, Guangxi, issued a notice saying, “In 2021, the rural cooperative medical care is 280 yuan per person for one year, until February 28, 2021, and from March 1, 2021, the state will no longer subsidize, and each person needs to pay 720 yuan for one year.”
The village committee of Gu Ming Village, Binzhou Town, Bingyang County, Guangxi, issued a document saying that the state subsidy was cancelled. (Web photo)
Some farmers suffering from serious illnesses “end it themselves”
Zhang Jianping, a resident of Changzhou, Jiangsu province, who was one of the first migrant workers after China’s “reform and opening up”, believes that local authorities have made the poor even poorer by dramatically raising their health insurance premiums. In an interview with Radio Free Asia on Wednesday (March 3), he said that farmers’ medical insurance fees have been increasing year by year: “For the western regions, such as Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi, the burden on farmers is really quite heavy, and the direct reimbursement for hospital visits is actually very small. Farmers have a major illness are their own break. Some old people in our hometown (Taixing) have cancer, and they are self-extinguished (let nature take its course or kill themselves).”
According to a report on the website of the First Financial News, individual contributions to urban and rural residents’ health insurance will continue to rise in 2021, and as has been the practice in previous years, the exact rate of increase this year will be determined during the National People’s Congress meeting in early March. The report quoted Mr. Chen, a farmer in Sichuan, as saying that medical insurance premiums rise every year, and for working people, the cost of 280 yuan per person is already a considerable expense for the whole Family, causing pressure on farmers.
Some farmers suffer from serious illnesses and “end it by themselves”. The picture shows a hospital in Hefei, Anhui province, with a corridor full of patient beds.
Medical insurance expenses account for one-third of the cost of living out of poverty
In this regard, Zhang Jianping said, for example, “Especially in the extremely poor areas of Guangxi, you make him (the farmer) pay more than 700 yuan a year, which is almost one-third of his annual living expenses, because the minimum standard set by China to get out of poverty is 2,300 yuan (a year’s income). You as a people’s government, you can not divide people into three, six, nine, agriculture is also the basic industry of the country.”
The full name of the so-called “New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme” is New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme, a medical insurance system exclusively for Chinese farmers, currently covering more than 800 million farmers and migrant workers, financed by local governments and rural collectives, and leading farmers to participate. The medical insurance covers primary hospitals in counties, with reimbursement of 60%, secondary hospitals 50%, and hospitals outside the county 40%, while non-agricultural urban medical insurance can reach up to 80% to 90%, with a minimum of 60%.
Some scholars have written that in the past, farmers delivered only a small portion of their medical insurance, with the rest supported by the state treasury. Initially, it was RMB 10 per person per year, increasing to between 250 and 400 yuan after 2019, with the rest subsidized by the government coffers. Until recently, local governments announced that subsidies would be removed and farmers would need to pay for the NNU health insurance independently.
Medical insurance premiums rise every year, and for working people, the cost of 280 yuan per person is already a significant expense for the whole family, putting pressure on farmers. Chinese medical personnel record personal details after collecting a blood sample from a farmer in a suburb of Shanghai.
“Document No. 1” claims to solve the “three rural issues
A week ago, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the “No. 1 Document” calling for a comprehensive solution to the “three rural issues. Zhang Jianping said: “I think it’s very strange that the central government issues the ‘No. 1 document’ every year, saying that it wants to pay attention to the ‘three rural issues’, to solve the problem of poverty in rural areas, but we find that the actual operation, the operation below, is completely different. This is not the case. But farmers still live in poor areas, especially in the western underdeveloped areas.”
The public lamented that taxation still cures the disease to save the request without a door
Ms. Li, a resident of Shenyang, said in response that rural health insurance was supposed to benefit the majority of farmers and make their burden lighter, but the farmers’ burden has increased year after year. She lamented: “The nationals of this country simply do not have welfare benefits, like giving you medical expenses now and up to 720 yuan, that’s it, there is no treatment. Once you get sick, then your choice is to jump to your death, which has money to treat your illness. Paying taxes has your share, you are paying for this country.”
Several interviewees in Guangxi lamented that a large number of migrant workers are now unemployed due to the new crown Epidemic. Rural cooperative medical fees, however, are rising instead of falling, and their future lives are even worse.
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