ABSTRACT
After 1978, China started to implement a series of social and economic experiments and policies oriented towards decentralisation, marketisation and privatisation. This chapter examines China's main health policy changes and their impact from 1980 to the early administration of President Xi and Premier Li; they came to power in 2013. The introduction of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS) in 2003 is a milestone in the reform of social health insurance in rural China. Next, the chapter discusses China's recent healthcare reform initiatives; these include further expansion of health insurance coverage, strengthening of public health system, primary healthcare and provision of essential drugs, and increasing the market share of hospitals. Finally, the chapter analyses the challenges militating against the achievement of an integrated insurance system, confronting the dual challenges of infectious and non-communicable diseases, and the process of working towards the integration of primary healthcare and hospital care.
