Recently the National Medical Security Bureau, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security as well as the National Health Commission have jointly issued a document on urban-rural residents' basic medical security work in 2018.

The document clarifies that a national unified urban-rural medical insurance system will be launched in an all-round way next year. This is the first time the central government has made arrangement for the annual medical insurance work for urban and rural residents at the same time.

In 2018, the fiscal subsidies for the urban and rural medical insurance and individual premium standards will both increase, and medical security supervision will focus on both the cost and quality of treatment.

This is the first national policy since the establishment of National Medical Security Bureau. The document urges regions that haven't integrated the urban and rural medical insurance into a unified system to do so soon. Regions that have already done this are urged to improve the efficiency and enhance the security.