China reform plans call for a health clinic in each village

Wall Street Journal, April 8, 2009

The State Council, China's cabinet, offered details on the $120-billion-plus initial phase of a healthcare revamp, which it outlined in January. Among the plans: a construction surge that by 2011 will give every village a medical clinic and every county at least one hospital. Under the plan, state subsidies for insurance premiums aim to extend at least basic coverage to 90% or more of China's 1.3 billion people within three years.