What can we learn from Obama's plan?
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According to the US healthcare act, the government will intervene in commercial insurance plans with measures including maximum limit to the cost of the insured so that the patients would no longer have to worry about falling into bankruptcy. Besides, in order to stimulate competition and lower insurance costs, public health insurance branches are also to be established.
Since it is free from such opposing interest groups, the government in China is expected to be more active in taking measures that benefit the common people.
Of course, a perfect plan is far from enough; and that brings us to the third point, namely feasibility and implementation of the reform plans.
The difficulties Obama met in selling his reform plans to the US Congress have not only attracted widespread attention, but also demonstrated his determination in implementing them.
After repeated disputes and constant editing, the reform plan was presented to the public with almost every detail being considered, like the fund raising sources, cost computation modes etc. The rights and responsibilities of citizens and government branches concerned were exactly defined, thus granting legal solutions to almost every possible problem.
Lack of a detailed plan (in China) has caused many problems, as many related government branches are not clear about their responsibilities. This has seriously lowered people's confidence in the reform plan, and China should attach more importance to this respect.
Lastly, let's not forget some essential elements needed in the reform, such as transparency, efficiency and publicity. In the US, the public always discussed the healthcare reform, so the measure garnered both trust and confidence from the public. Healthcare reform in China should also be more transparent. Only by granting everybody the opportunity to speak on his own behalf can it serve the interest of as many people as possible.
The healthcare system is directly related to the basic rights of every member in modern society. Individual citizens and corporations have adverse interests in a healthcare system, so the government needs to coordinate and intervene in this complicated relationship.
It is still too early to predict the success of the US healthcare reform, but as a giant nation sharing the same kind of problems, we should do our job as well.
The author is a research fellow at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy, Beijing Foreign Studies University.
