The office of the Shushan village committee in Tong'an Town, Suzhou New District, was bustling with people. The staff members patiently explained to the villagers, "Mr Wu, for our medical mutual aid program, each person only needs to spend 20 yuan ($2.79) per year. Those who meet the relevant disease criteria can receive a minimum reimbursement of 300 yuan for a single hospitalization, with a maximum subsidy of 10,000 yuan. The reimbursement process is also very simple." It is reported that Tong'an Town has conducted a pilot program in Shushan village, with more than 300 households in the village included in the program for rural public welfare medical mutual aid.
"This is a benevolent measure implemented by the government. With a small amount of money, we can obtain great coverage. It's worth it!" Mr Zhang, a villager from Shushan, along with his family of five, has participated in the rural public welfare medical mutual aid program. The rural public welfare medical mutual aid project, highly praised by the villagers, is one of the 50 livelihood projects launched by the Jiangsu Provincial Government this year. Tong'an Town is one of the 14 pilot towns in Suzhou. Villagers voluntarily join the medical mutual aid program on a household basis, and a third-party platform provides professional services such as disease identification and expense reimbursement. It provides fair subsidies for villagers' medical expenses during hospitalization, with a focus on major illnesses. The project is funded at a rate of 100 yuan per person per year. Each villager only need to spend 20 yuan per year, while the remaining amount is funded by the village-level collective economic organization (30 yuan per person), town government subsidy (30 yuan per person per year), and the town's community public welfare foundation (20 yuan per person). All raised funds are deposited into a dedicated account for rural public welfare medical mutual aid, ensuring the funds are used exclusively for this purpose in a closed-loop operation.
The rural public welfare medical mutual aid fund is coordinated at the town level and is used for fund collection and benefit payments. A third-party professional technical service platform is entrusted to open the Fucunbao mobile app, which provides fair subsidies to villagers who are hospitalized for specific diseases. Any surplus funds at the end of the year are carried over and used in the following year. The income and expenditure of the funds are regularly disclosed and subject to inspection and supervision by the public, social organizations, disciplinary inspection and supervision departments, and financial auditing. The transparency regarding who receives subsidies and how they are distributed benefits all villagers, and it also stimulates their enthusiasm for mutual assistance.
The Suzhou New District Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) will serve as the cooperative bank in this rural public welfare medical mutual aid project. It is expected to provide financial support of no less than 700,000 yuan to accelerate the establishment of the rural public welfare mutual aid platform, providing strong guarantees for the project.
