China to further diversify commercial health insurance supply amid growing demand

Chinese authorities are looking to further diversify commercial health insurance products through reforms and innovation to meet growing public demands, an official with the country's top banking and insurance regulator said on Jan 2.

Huang Hong, vice-chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, told a press conference that while China's commercial health insurance market has been expanding rapidly, it still needs to further increase supply.

Health insurance premiums for the first 10 months of 2019 grew 30.7 percent year-on-year to 614.1 billion yuan (about $88.18 billion), and authorities are expecting the market volume to reach over 2 trillion yuan by 2025, according to Huang.

Huang said the government will push for further reforms of insurance institutions and technological innovation in commercial health insurance to provide more diverse insurance products.

Currently, there are more than 5,000 health insurance products in the Chinese market, covering illnesses, medicare, medical accidents, nursing and disability income, according to Huang.

Insurance institutions are encouraged to extend commercial health insurance coverage to more areas such as maternity and expand the pool of health insurance products eligible for tax deductions.

China will also further open up the insurance sector to introduce advanced management expertise, technologies and personnel from abroad, Huang said.

At the same time, the government will work to boost the development of commercial insurance in social services such as elderly care, childcare, education, sports and tourism, as well as products supporting groups such as start-ups companies, rural residents and low-income urban residents, he said.