Social health insurance in China: principal reforms and inequalities

https://doi.org/10.18294/sc.2017.999

Published 11 April 2017 Open Access


Fabianna Bacil Lourenço Ferreira Degree in International Relations, Degree in Economics. Research associate, Laboratório de Estudos em Economia Política da China (LabChina), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. image/svg+xml



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Keywords:

Health Care Reform, Social Security, Health Inequalities, China

Abstract


This article analyzes the social health insurance system in China, its reforms and the principal social inequalities uncovered. Based in the work of a number of authors of reference, it is possible to observe that rural and urban reforms follow the same pattern: large systems that were gradually reduced and then again expanded relatively quickly. Improvements notwithstanding, some of China’s historical problems persist, especially the rural-urban gap and regional disparities. The lack of integration of workers that migrate from the country to the city is reproduced in the current Chinese public health system, constituting one of the primary challenges to be faced at present.

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