Five years have elapsed since the Chinese government announced its ambitious health care reform programme. The fact that both the United States and China unfolded their gigantic national health care reforms almost simultaneously is reflective of the daunting health policy challenges that most national governments are grappling with. While Obamacare has barely survived the obstruction from Congress and remains controversial, its Chinese counterpart has concluded its first phase at a fairly smooth pace. Having had three trillion RMB invested into it within five years, this landmark reform stands out as one of the biggest health policy interventions in modern history in terms of both scale and scope. A critical juncture in the reform process has been reached and it is time to assess its performance to date. This book provides an interim evaluation of China’s ongoing national health care reform from interdisciplinary perspective. Insights generated are not only valuable to inform next phase of the reform, but also relevant to health policy reformers in other developing and transitional countries.
This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Asian Public Policy.