Some 930,000 children in Shenzhen will be covered by a government-run insurance scheme for hospitalization costs if a draft plan for the scheme is passed later this year.

A child will receive up to 127,000 yuan (US$15,659) in insurance to pay for treatment in case of a major disease upon paying a premium of 15.97 yuan per month, according to the draft plan. The insurance will compulsorily apply to all children who study in primary and middle schools and kindergartens in Shenzhen, and whose parents are participants in the city's official medical insurance scheme.

The draft plan also covers children under 3 who hold hukou, or permanent residence permits.

Guan Lingen, director general of the Shenzhen Municipal Labor and Social Security Bureau, said a public hearing on the insurance scheme will be held next week, and if everything goes smoothly, children will begin to be covered by the insurance by the end of this year.

The program is expected to benefit about 930,000 children, including 509,000 migrant children studying in Shenzhen schools, 361,000 schoolchildren holding Shenzhen hukou, and about 58,000 children under 3 with Shenzhen hukou.

The employer of a child's father or mother would have to reimburse half of the premium, equivalent of 0.6 percent of a Shenzhener's average monthly salary of 2,661 yuan. The maximum compensation to a single child is four times the annual salary of a Shenzhener, according to the draft.

If the insurance fund is not enough to cover the hospital fees, the government will pay the rest, according to the draft plan.

Needy parents can also apply for aid from the city's social security fund to pay for other medical expenses, according to the plan.

Parents welcome the move. "It's a good policy," said Peng Fei, who has a 7-year-old daughter.

Zheng Jian, father of an 11-year-old boy, said the program should have been implemented earlier.

"I've been waiting for such a program for years," said Zheng, adding that his son was often plagued by minor ailments such as bronchitis. "I can afford to pay for small diseases, but if my son develops a big disease, I'll not be able to pay for him. High medical fees for children often worry me," said Zheng, who purchased expensive medical insurance for his son last year. The commercial insurance scheme costs him about 10,000 yuan a year.

Only a few Chinese cities, such as Shanghai and Suzhou, have social medical insurance for children, although China established a social medical insurance system for adults in 1996.

(Shenzhen Daily February 9, 2006)