About 1.03 million assisted reproductive consultations or therapies costing nearly 2 billion yuan (RM1.22bil) were reimbursed by public medical insurance from January to September, as a growing number of regions started providing subsidised assisted fertility treatment, the National Healthcare Security Administration said late last month.
Earlier last month, the administration released a trial guideline that consolidates various fertility therapies into 12 major categories and laid out service pricing standards to better regulate the sector.
So far, 27 provincial-level regions, including Beijing, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and the provinces of Jiangxi and Shandong, have extended medical insurance coverage to a slew of assisted reproductive therapies, it said.
The widening reimbursement of assisted reproductive services is part of a broader push led by the administration to reduce childbearing costs for families.
It said that in the first three quarters of this year, the nation’s maternity insurance funds spent 89.3 billion yuan, up 11.5% from last year.
China’s maternity insurance guarantees that employed women on maternity or childcare leave receive basic salaries, maternity subsidies and reimbursement for medical expenses related to pregnancy.
As of the end of last year, 249 million women have joined the insurance programme, including workers with flexible employment or those with new types of jobs, such as delivery agents.
More than 80% of newborns enrol in the basic insurance programme within the year of their birth, compared to around 50% in the past few years.
The administration added that it will make further efforts to improve its maternity insurance system. — China Daily/ANN
