EXPECTATIONS HIGH FOR RURAL HEALTH CARE IN SOUTHERN SICHUAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000108 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/CM HHS FOR OGHA - STEIGER, BHAT CDC ATLANTA FOR CCID AND COGH USDOL FOR ILAB TREASURY FOR ISA-DOHNER AND KOEPE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO EAGR CASC CH SUBJECT: EXPECTATIONS HIGH FOR RURAL HEALTH CARE IN SOUTHERN SICHUAN REF: A. A. BEIJING 02140 ¶B. B. BEIJING 02675 ¶C. C. 06 BEIJING 005874 ¶D. D. 06 BEIJING 24669 CHENGDU 00000108 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: China's voluntary health insurance scheme, the Rural Cooperative Medical System (RCMS) was designed to make healthcare more accessible and affordable for the poor, particularly in the event of catastrophic illness. However, as the RCMS expands to reach the poorest areas, many communities do not have sufficient medical and administrative personnel to meet an increased demand for healthcare services or to manage costs and design reimbursement strategies. As a result, areas such as Sichuan Province's impoverished rural Nanxi county, may face difficulties fulfilling its public pledges of free annual health screenings, immediate partial reimbursement of fees, and additional compensation for large medical bills. These promises were essential to attract initial high participation rates from farmers, but if the scheme fails to deliver, there will be rising resentment and reduced future enrollments as people grow disillusioned and withdraw from a scheme that is not addressing their needs. This is the third and last in a series of cables examining local healthcare in China. End Summary. -------------- DON'T MAKE PROMISES YOU CAN'T KEEP -------------- ¶2. (U) During a recent reporting trip to rural Nanxi County in southern Sichuan, Emboffs and Congenoff visited township hospitals and rural clinics. Four years after the RCMS was launched with much fanfare, promising to address the twin problems of "seeing a doctor is difficult, seeing a doctor is expensive" (kan bing nan, kan bing gui) in rural areas, local officials are under pressure to show high RCMS participation rates, a principal yardstick which the central government uses to measure local government success. To boost participation, some impoverished local governments may over-promise RCMS benefits to attract participants and prove that their program is a success. However, inadequate government funding along with insufficient numbers of skilled personnel means these areas may not be able to deliver on their promises. ¶3. (U) Rural Nanxi county, a six hour drive from Sichuan's provincial capital Chengdu, has a per capita annual income of 3,000 RMB (388 USD) and boasts a RCMS enrollment rate of 90 percent among the 420,000 county residents, up from 65 percent in 2005. Each participant in Nanxi's RCMS must contribute 10 RMB (1.3 USD) annually which is matched by 10 RMB (1.3 USD) from the central government, the province, the county, and district, amounting to a total contribution of 50 RMB (6.5 USD) for each enrollee. Local officials attribute the high participation rate to innovative offerings that include free participation in RCMS for the poor, free annual health inspections, quick reimbursements, and supplementary coverage of between 30 and 50 percent for participants who incur medical bills of over 10,000 RMB (1,280 USD). During a carefully scripted presentation outside a township hospital in Nanxi that serves 51,000 residents, officials showed us slick billboards demonstrating how usage of inpatient facilities tripled between 2004 and 2006 because RCMS has made inpatient care more affordable. ¶4. (SBU) In a departure from an otherwise stage-managed event, while officials were touting their achievements, an elderly man amidst the crowd of onlookers started protesting loudly before he was dragged away by local public security officials. He complained that the officials were liars, that the RCMS was a hoax, and that he had not received any reimbursement promised to him after waiting more than seven months. Other residents later privately commented that they were skeptical of official promises to address their healthcare needs and noted that they had never seen the billboards publicizing the benefits the public was supposed to enjoy until our visit. -------------- A SHORTAGE OF TALENT AND MONEY -------------- ¶5. (U) Because Nanxi claims a high RCMS enrollment rate and says demand for inpatient care has rapidly risen, the central government spent more than 300,000 RMB (39,000 USD) in 2007 to CHENGDU 00000108 002.2 OF 002 construct a new wing for the township hospital. Nanxi, however, has not hired any additional medical staff to meet the rising demand for inpatient care. Nanxi also has a network of 309 public health institutions to serve its 420,000 residents but most of these facilities have one or two rudimentarily trained staff that only handles simple tasks such as diagnosing colds, administering vaccinations and dispensing drugs. ¶6. (U) An acute shortage in the countryside of accountants and administrators to conduct actuarial forecasts, determine reimbursement strategies, and ensure cost containment also threatens the long-term viability of this program. Local communities such as Nanxi do not have the skilled staff necessary to perform complex calculations for the level of contributions the RCMS needs to be financially solvent, nor have they determined the current and future costs for the benefits they are now offering. Yanfeng Ge, a Deputy Director General of the State Council's Development Research Center separately told us that the 50 RMB (6.5 USD) collected in places like Nanxi are only sufficient to cover an estimated 20 percent of healthcare costs, making it critical that these places conduct actuarial estimates and implement rigorous cost controls before extending benefits. However, it is unclear if rural communities can compete with wealthier cities and towns to attract the skilled technical staff in a country that already has a shortage of such talent. -------------- IS THE RCMS ROLLOUT TOO RAPID? -------------- ¶7. (U) As China rapidly extends RCMS from 50 percent of counties at the end of 2006 to 80 percent of counties by the end of 2007, the fact that many rural areas do not have the healthcare workers or administrators to address healthcare needs or manage the RCMS could leave farmers dissatisfied with the level of care, or find the program teetering into bankruptcy. During our meeting with Sichuan Academy of Social Science (SASS) scholars, they stated the focus on increasing coverage areas was misguided because many of the communities that are now supposed to implement RCMS are among the poorest and have the least capacity to manage or implement such a program. ¶8. (U) While it may be politically expedient to embark on an ambitious rollout so that one can boast of high national coverage rates, if the Central Government is sincere about addressing the population's healthcare needs, it may need to slow the expansion to give local communities time to find and train the staff needed to provide a sustainable, improved quality of service. ¶9. (U) This is a joint Embassy Beijing-ESTH and ConGen Chengdu reporting cable. BOUGHNER