China to open doors for Western healthcare insurers

China is seeking both investment and expat professionals to boost its lagging healthcare and health insurance provision.

That the Chinese government regards the country’s healthcare provisions as of national importance is old news, with improvements of the system a priority for several decades. However, public healthcare has been struggling to keep up with an ageing population as well as the expectations of its younger citizens, whilst the private sector is booming but only available to the comparatively wealthy.

In an attempt to regularise the system, Chinese leaders have been forced to include Western investors as well as equity, healthcare and private medical insurance providers. China’s problems on the healthcare front include a backlash from the long-term, now deleted ‘one-child’ policy which has resulted in the safety net of close family carers for the elderly being eliminated. In addition, a third of China’s huge population will be over 60 years of age within 30 years or so.

State nursing homes for older, sick parents are few and far between and only able to cater for just 2.1 per cent of the country’s elderly, compared with provision in the Western world for a much higher percentage of aged citizens. Stuck between a rock and hard place, China has been forced to encourage private provision of healthcare services from foreign firms, giving applicants a majority stake in partnerships with established local life insurance companies.

As reported in a statement from giant Western insurance company AXA, Western-style private health insurance expansion into China is a done deal and is also likely to create a good number of expat opportunities in the sector. However, it’s due to become a complicated procedure for overseas insurers as each province has its own take on the provision of social security and the industry in general is beset by restrictions on foreign involvement.

For expats already working in China, accessing top-quality healthcare outside Beijing and Shanghai is a lottery even with a reputable private healthcare policy, with medivac to Hong Kong often the only option. Whatever the outcome, meeting immediate needs will no doubt improve the situation, if only because whatever China wants, China eventually gets.