Recently, the Chinese Communist Party announced an increase of 20 yuan in the minimum basic old-age pension for urban and rural residents. However, due to the already low basic old-age pension for farmers, the mere 20 yuan increase has drawn public attention. At the same time, there have been rumors circulating online stating that the coverage for the new rural cooperative medical care has been limited to township hospitals only, no longer covering county-level and higher medical institutions, which has been criticized as further exploiting the grassroots.
During the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) held in Beijing, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced on March 5th in the government work report that the minimum standard of basic old-age pension for urban and rural residents will be increased by 20 yuan (about $2.76 USD).
Despite this adjustment of 16.3%, the basic old-age pension for urban and rural residents has only increased from 123 yuan per month (about $17 USD) to 143 yuan per month (about $19.7 USD). In comparison, the average pension for retired urban workers is around 3500 yuan (about $483 USD), while farmers’ basic old-age pensions are merely a fraction of that, highlighting a significant urban-rural disparity.
The low old-age pension for Chinese farmers has garnered public attention, with even experts and scholars within the Chinese Communist system calling for a substantial increase.
During the two sessions, Lu Qingguo, a delegate to the NPC and Chairman of Morningsun Biotechnology Company, proposed raising the standard of farmers’ old-age pensions to 500 yuan per month (about $69 USD). He pointed out that from 2003 to 2024, the payment standard for residents’ medical insurance increased by 40 times, while farmers’ annual income only grew by 8.82 times, leading to an increasingly burdensome payment obligation and resulting in payment delays or discontinuations.
The standard of basic old-age pension for urban and rural residents consists of the national minimum standard of basic old-age pension and the regional basic old-age pension standard. Therefore, provinces implement different actual payment standards based on the “national minimum standard of basic old-age pension,” leading to significant regional disparities. For example, the current minimum standard of basic old-age pension for urban and rural residents in Guangdong province is 220 yuan per person per month (about $30 USD), while in Sichuan province, it is 168 yuan (about $23 USD). Among the four municipalities directly under the central government, Chongqing currently stands at 140 yuan (about $19 USD), Tianjin at 322 yuan (about $44 USD), Beijing at 961 yuan (about $132 USD), and Shanghai at 1490 yuan (about $205 USD).
According to a Caixin report, many areas only implement the minimum standard, causing a lack of guarantee for the quality of life for retired farmers.
Political commentator Wang He, in an interview with the Epoch Times, expressed disappointment at the Chinese government’s decision to only raise farmers’ basic old-age pension by 20 yuan during the grand political event of the two sessions. He criticized the government’s priorities, indicating a preference to allocate funds to defense budgets, military expenditure, or expanding industrial capacity rather than improving the pension levels for the people, especially farmers. The substantial gap in subsidy distribution between officials and farmers, even though they are both receiving fiscal subsidies, demonstrates the systemic hierarchy within Chinese society and highlights the absurdity of the Chinese regime’s power.
Recently, there have been rumors circulating on social media platform X that several regions in China have issued notifications restricting the reimbursement scope of the new rural cooperative medical care system to only include township hospitals, excluding county-level and higher hospitals, sparking widespread controversy.
The New Rural Cooperative Medical Care system, introduced by the Chinese government in 2004 for rural and farming populations, has now merged with urban resident medical insurance, collectively known as urban and rural resident medical insurance, aiming to provide basic medical care and major illness medical care to agricultural household populations.
Public information indicates common reimbursement rates for the New Rural Cooperative Medical Care system: 60% reimbursement for village health clinics and village health centers, 40% for township health centers, 30% for secondary hospitals, and 20% for tertiary hospitals. For inpatient treatments, reimbursement rates are 60% for township health centers, 40% for secondary hospitals, and 30% for tertiary hospitals.
Recently, a message circulating online revealed that a hospital in Luoyang, Henan province, posted a notice stating that as of January 1, 2025, patients covered by rural medical insurance can only receive outpatient care at primary designated medical institutions, specifically township health centers and village health clinics, with outpatient visits to county-level hospitals no longer eligible for reimbursement. Another notification at a payment window of a hospital explicitly stated that starting in 2025, the New Rural Cooperative Medical Care system will no longer reimburse medical expenses incurred at county-level hospitals.
A netizen complained that when taking their child to a county hospital for treatment, they were informed at the payment desk that medical expenses at county hospitals would no longer be reimbursed from this year onwards and that only visits to township hospitals would be eligible for reimbursement. They questioned, “Do we have to pay into the New Rural Cooperative Medical Care system in the county town but still have to go to the countryside for medical treatment and hospitalization?”
Former Beijing lawyer and Chairman of the Federation for a Democratic China, Lai Jianping, stated in an interview with the Epoch Times that since the Chinese Communist Party came to power, the rural population has consistently occupied the lowest rungs of society. The implementation of such policies by local hospitals essentially further exploits the grassroots, making it nearly impossible for farmers to access basic social welfare. This approach continues the CCP’s consistent strategy of exploiting the bottom tier of society.
Wang He also noted that there is extreme inequality in the allocation of medical resources in China, with higher medical standards in central cities compared to weaker healthcare conditions in rural areas. Now, the CCP’s directive to force farmers to seek medical care at rural facilities without corresponding medical coverage will lead to severe social problems.
He emphasized that with the exacerbation of financial crises in various regions, authorities have disregarded people’s livelihoods and actual medical needs to curb further expansions of health insurance fund deficits, resulting in the implementation of these absurd policies.