ABSTRACT
After three decades of economic reforms and state retrenchment in social policy, grievances related to issues such as health care, food safety and the environment have taken centre stage in China’s national dialogue. In response to growing concerns, Beijing has initiated expansive reforms in health care, including increased financial commitments from the central and local levels of government. Improving access and reducing health care costs in rural China have been major goals of the recent reforms, due to the collapse of commune-based health care in the 1980s. The health care reform process has been characterized by experimentalism and decentralization, as local government has been tasked with adapting the implementation of new policies to suit local conditions. While this experimentalist approach was successful in stimulating economic growth, similar tactics have not yielded such positive results in health sector reform. Thus, despite new policies and progressive subsidies earmarked for health care, serious concerns remain.
