China’s health care system has long been rife with accusations of hospitals over-prescribing treatments to inflate bills or taking kickbacks from pharmaceutical representatives to procure and prescribe overpriced medicines, which in China are distributed at in-house pharmacies.
Despite wide health insurance coverage, absolute costs of health care can be a heavy burden for many in China. Hospitals are the front line for these issues, as they generally take on a role that might be served by a primary care physician in other countries like the United States, in addition to other services.
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And the burden of health care costs on families – and the system – is only expected to rise as China’s population ages.