Recently, the National Healthcare Security Administration and the Ministry of Finance issued a notice requiring cross provincial assistance for employees' basic medical insurance personal accounts, further expanding the scope of assistance. In response to readers' concerns, the reporter interviewed relevant officials from the National Healthcare Security Administration.
Q: What is employee medical insurance personal account family mutual assistance? What are the limitations of the scope of mutual assistance?
Answer: Since its establishment in 1998, China's employee medical insurance system has been implementing a protection model that combines social pooling and personal accounts. The funds in the employee medical insurance personal account can be used to pay for the personal expenses of medical treatment and drug purchase. In 2021, the State Council issued a document expanding the scope of use of funds in employees' personal medical insurance accounts from the employees themselves to their "spouses, parents, and children" who participate in basic medical insurance, that is, funds in medical insurance personal accounts can be used jointly by family members; In July 2024, the State Council issued another document to further expand the scope of mutual assistance for employees' medical insurance personal accounts from "spouses, parents, and children" to "close relatives" who participate in basic medical insurance. According to the provisions of the Civil Code, spouses, parents, children, brothers and sisters, grandparents, maternal grandparents, grandchildren, and maternal grandchildren are close relatives.
