Beijing Municipality, Basic Medical Insurance Provisions

Promulgated: February 20 2001
Effective: April 1 2001
Applicability: The Provisions apply to all employers in the urban area of Beijing Municipality, including government agencies, institutions and enterprises, and to their employees and retirees (Article 2).

Main contents: Pursuant to the Provisions, unless already retired prior to the effectiveness of the Provisions, an insured employee shall pay a basic medical insurance premium at 2% of his/her premium base, normally his/her average monthly wage in the last year (Article 10). His/her employer shall withhold such payment from his/her salary or wage (Article 15). The required premium paying period is 25 years for men and 20 years for women. If the insured retires without satisfaction of the required payment period, he/she must make up for the shortage in a lump sum payment, including the shortage otherwise payable by his/her employer. However, the administrative department of labour and social security may recognize certain previous employment time as premium payment time (Article 11). The payable premium for an employer shall be 9% of the aggregate premium bases of its staff and workers (Article 12). A percentage of the employer's contribution varying from 0.4% to 4.8% according to the age of the insured shall be credited to the basic medical insurance personal account of the insured held with the social insurance operator (Article 21). The balance in the personal account, which belongs to the insured and is inheritable, shall be used for certain specified medical costs, including outpatient medical costs and medicine costs (Articles 23 and 28). The municipality-operated basic insurance fund will pay a capped amount of any hospitalization cost beyond a deductible amount (Articles 32 and 36). The capped and the deductible amounts shall be announced by the municipal administrative department of labour and social security (Article 34). The Provisions also set out procedures for the establishment and operation of a mutual help system to handle large medical costs (Part Five).