Schematic diagram of children with spinal muscular atrophy with SMA (photo source: free image North Charleston/CC BY-SA 2.0)
[See China September 5, 2021](See Chinese journalist Gu Wangqin Compilation/Comprehensive Report) Recently, a fee receipt for hospitalization in the Pediatric Neurorehabilitation Ward of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University was transmitted online. A girl under 2 years old , 4 days of hospitalization, medical expenses of 550,000 yuan, aroused widespread public concern. Statistics show thatChinaofMedical insuranceResources are severely tilted, with an average annual per capita of only 928 yuan.
The article wrote that Xiaohua (anonymous) was weak in limbs and sluggish, so she came to the Children’s Hospital of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University for treatment. Through genetic diagnosis, Xiaohua was finally diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). If not actively treated, multiple system functions will be damaged, respiratory failure, and life-threatening at any time. After the hospital negotiated with the family members, the family members agreed to treat Xiaohua with Noxinagen sodium.
Public information shows that Noxinassen Sodium Injection is the world‘s first SMA precision targeted therapy drug. It was developed by Bojian Company of the United States. It was approved in the United States for the first time on December 23, 2016, and was successively approved in the European Union, Brazil, Japan, and South Korea. , Canada is approved for the treatment of SMA.
On February 22, 2019, Noxinassen Sodium Injection was officially approved, and it was launched in China on April 28 of the same year. The price of Nosinasheng Sodium Injection in the United States is US$125,000 (approximately RMB 870,000) per dose, and the price is reduced to 550,000 in China. 6 doses were injected in the first year, and 3 injections per year for maintenance.
In August last year, a parent of an SMA patient in Guangdong filed an information disclosure application with the State Food and Drug Administration, hoping to understand the procurement method of Noxinagen Sodium Injection and the basis for domestic price pricing. The neurologist said that the price of this medicine in China is the lowest in the world. The American Biochem Company stated that the government procurement price of Nosinagen Sodium Injection in Australia is 110,000 Australian dollars (550,000 RMB) per dose. In June last year, Nosinagen Sodium Injection was launched in 50 countries, of which 40 countries are covered by medical insurance. In Australia, if a patient has medical insurance, they only need to pay 41 Australian dollars per dose.
Although SMA is a rare disease with an incidence rate of one in ten thousand, there are so many children in China. It takes 550,000 for one dose, 3.3 million for the first year, and 1.65 million for each year thereafter. There are 600 million people in China with a monthly income of less than 1,000 yuan, and 900 million people with a monthly income of less than 2,000 yuan. Several families can afford such huge medical expenses. If medical insurance cannot provide protection, the parents of these children have no other way but to take the children home, crying without tears.
Why are the Chinese people’s medical insurance coverage low?
In 2019, China’s total health expenditure is 6.520 billion, accounting for 6.58% of GDP. The proportion of the United States is 17.1%, Germany 11.2%, Japan 10.9%, Canada 10.6%, the United Kingdom 9.6%, and Australia 9.2%. The proportion of China’s medical expenditure is relatively small, because the people are relatively poor and the government’s commitment is relatively small. In the annual total health expenditure, the Chinese government accounts for 26.7%, and the people bear the rest. The specific methods include tariffs, commercial insurance, social medical services and social donations. The U.S. government accounts for 28% of total annual medical expenditures, medical insurance accounts for 42%, and patients’ own expenses account for 27%. In Italy, government expenditure accounts for 48% of annual medical expenses, and social insurance accounts for 52%. The Taiwan government accounts for 64% of the total annual medical expenditures, and the people’s self-finance accounts for 36%.
From the above data, it can be seen that the medical expenses borne by the Chinese government are indeed relatively small. More importantly, the government’s medical expenditures are not evenly distributed. 80% of China’s annual medical state expenditures are spent on 8.5 million party and government officials at or above the department level. Retired senior officials enjoy 400,000 sets of senior staff wards. Ten years ago, the cost of senior staff wards exceeded 50 billion. The recuperation of in-service cadres exceeded 220 billion a year 10 years ago. The remaining 20% of state expenditures is used to cover 1.4 billion Chinese people, an average of 928 yuan per person per year. This can be regarded as one of the reasons why the Chinese people’s medical insurance reimbursement amount is not large.
Source: Look at China
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