Equality and justice should materialize through providing equal health
services and medical insurance for all, says an article in Xiaoxiang Morning
Post. An excerpt follows:
Minister of Health Gao Qiang said at the 2007
National Health Work Meeting that the ministry will focus on building four basic
systems of medical services in the new year.
He said the
government-funded medicare system aims to provide equal medical care for both
rural and urban residents.
This is good news. But there is still much to
be worried about.
As Gao also disclosed, because of the low level of
urbanization, the huge income gap between urban and rural residents, and the
large base of the agricultural population, different types of medical insurance
systems will coexist for a rather long time. Thus it can be imagined that people
will be treated differently according to their income levels and regions. Will
those relatively poor groups only be able to have inferior health services and
medical insurance?
Public health service and medical insurance should be
a basic social welfare benefiting all. They should be enjoyed equally by all
citizens. With the current gap between the rich and the poor increasing, the
establishment of a public health service and medical insurance system must not
lead to new inequalities.
It is impossible to increase the poor's income
level overnight. Thus we should start by providing equal basic social welfare to
all to demonstrate equality and justice.
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