China’s Medical Insurance Exodus Prompts Calls for Sweeping Elderly Subsidies

China’s basic medical insurance system has shed tens of millions of enrollees over the past seven years, prompting public health researchers to call for urgent premium subsidies targeting the elderly and low-income households to prevent further erosion of the country’s safety net.

A new study by the Global Health Research Center at Duke Kunshan University recommends waiving or reducing premiums for residents over 60 and those earning less than 60% of the national median income. The proposals aim to stem a steady decline in participation that has seen rural and nonworking urban resident enrollments drop by roughly 83 million people between 2019 and 2025.