China Jumpstarts Economy With Universal Health Care For All
Recently the Chinese government announced that they will begin providing health care coverage for nearly all of their 1.3 billion citizens. This unprecedented coverage by a single country is estimated to cost over $123 billion for the next three years. Currently, government funded health care coverage is limited to a a very few Chinese citizens.
By 2011, say Chinese officials, 90 percent of citizens in both rural and urban areas will have basic access to medical services. They will also improve the quality of care provided in health centers, and ensure quality is more equal in rural and urban areas, wrote the Times article. Growing public criticism of soaring medical fees, a lack of access to affordable medical services, poor doctor-patient relationship and low medical insurance coverage compelled the government to launch the new round of reforms, wrote Xinhua, the Chineses state news organization.
Another driving factor in implementing the Chinese universal health care policy was to boost their slowing economy. Chinese economists believe that if citizens have universal care, they wont to worry about saving money for potential medical costs and will in turn spend more on consumer goods.
The economic based decision was based on a 2007 survey which found that rural citizens who already had benefits of government coverage, spend more on consumer goods than those who don’t have coverage. The very idea that universal health care can be an economic stimulus tool could provide a boost to the efforts to pass universal health care in the United States.
Obviously, China and the U.S. have opposite governments, but it will be interesting to see if this fascinating idea actually works to boost their economy. If it does, will universal health care proponents here in America use it as an argument/model for fully government-sponsored health care? Well keep our ears open.
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