Southeast Asia Information Port News (www.dnyxxg.com) – Seven departments, including the Guangdong Provincial Financial Regulatory Bureau, recently jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of Health Insurance and Serving the Construction of a Healthy Guangdong" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guiding Opinions"). The document outlines 21 supporting measures across seven aspects, including building a Guangdong-characteristic security system, deepening the integration of finance and healthcare, creating a pilot model for the Greater Bay Area, and exploring digital transformation paths.
The "Guiding Opinions" clearly state that the long-term goal is to build a multi-tiered health insurance market structure to better meet the diverse needs of the entire population and throughout their life cycle, further leveraging the important role of health insurance in the national health security system. Specifically, the document outlines six key areas: 1) Building a Guangdong-characteristic security system consisting of basic medical insurance, urban commercial medical insurance, and commercial health insurance; 2) Striving for the implementation of various health insurance pilot programs in Guangdong to serve the construction of a healthy Greater Bay Area; 3) Deepening the integration of finance and healthcare to promote the development of the big health industry; 4) Guiding insurance companies to explore digital transformation paths based on the construction of "Digital Guangdong"; 5) Establishing a "three-dimensional map" of Guangdong's health insurance to standardize the health insurance market order; and 6) Improving the disclosure of health insurance product information to strengthen the protection of consumer rights. Seventh, establish an information-sharing mechanism and strengthen inter-departmental cooperation to contribute more Guangdong wisdom to the insurance industry's service to the Healthy China initiative.
The "Guiding Opinions" propose to fully leverage the supplementary protection role of commercial insurance, help improve the multi-tiered medical security system, steadily develop long-term care insurance and urban commercial medical insurance, focus on people's livelihood demands, explore including more innovative drugs and medical devices in the urban medical insurance coverage, and, based on Guangdong's proximity to Hong Kong and Macao, deepen the pilot program for cross-border medical insurance and exclusive critical illness insurance products in the Greater Bay Area, providing insurance protection and convenient services for Hong Kong and Macao residents seeking medical treatment in the north.
As of the end of 2025, Guangdong's commercial health insurance effectively covered 889 million people. As the largest health insurance market in China, it paid out a total of 43 billion yuan in claims throughout the year, providing 640 trillion yuan in risk protection for the whole society. Insurance funds invested over 30 billion yuan in Guangdong's elderly care and health industry, covering multiple sub-sectors such as biotechnology, new drug technology, gene technology, medical devices, and medical groups, and holding stakes in multiple medical institutions. (End)
