Separating medicine from treatment is the mainstream in America. Doctors prescribe, and patients take the prescriptions to a pharmacy to obtain medicine/drug. Even if a person has an American medical insurance (aka 美国医保) plan, it is not cheap to schedule a dental visit in the United States (aka 美国 看牙). The medicine is also costly.
When a graduate student decides to buy an opt insurance (aka opt保险) plan, he/she usually will be given optional packages, including prescription drug discounts and/or international student vaccine (aka 留学生疫苗) coverage . The annual premium will be different based on the kind of insurance package he/she chooses. The annual cost of his/her health insurance for OPT (aka opt期间保险) will increase. If adding a F-2 insurance (aka f2保险) for dependent, the total expense will be incredible.
Students may wonder: why the copayment of prescription drug is not inexpensive. The brand is a factor. On the other hand, the regulation of the entire pharmaceutical industry is another indicator. The fast development in China provides Chinese citizens a better life, but the governmental supervision needs more restrictive control.
China’s Ministry of Finance announced Tuesday that 77 pharmaceutical firms will be audited at random, with the aim of promoting the construction of a fairer and more sustainable medical security system, according to a statement published on the ministry’s website. The list features the local arms of three overseas pharmaceutical firms – Sanofi, Eli Lilly and Co., and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Major domestic firms that will be audited include Jiangsu Hengrui Medical Co., Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. and Shandong Buchang Pharmaceuticals Co.
The audits will take place in June and July, and come after Kangmei Pharmaceutical Co. was probed for misreporting its finances. Kangmei admitted to using falsified documents and data as it overstated its cash holdings for 2017 by 29.9 billion yuan (4.3 billion U.S. dollars), and told the Shanghai Stock Exchange that the company had “major shortcomings in its internal controls”. The company is included on the MSCI Emerging Markets index, and saw its share price fall by five percent after admitting to using false documents.
Chinese authorities are looking to reform the pharmaceutical sector by improving access to drugs and bringing down prices for consumers. In January the State Council announced a “group-buying” pilot mechanism that would be introduced in 11 cities across the country to bring down medicine costs, while last May all import tariffs on cancer drugs were scrapped. VAT rates for the import of rare-disease drugs and the production and sale, wholesale and retail of rare-disease drugs have also been reduced to 3 percent, according to Xinhua.
