Health on the way

We brave editorial galley slaves at CER have been waiting on pins and needles for the government to issue details of its proposed US$123 billion health care reform. Sadly, that “pins and needles” bit wasn’t even hyperbole. We’re geeks. We’re not proud. Well, game on. China’s State Council released a blueprint for its reform, which is strong on infrastructure. According to the plan, every village will have a medical clinic and every county at least one hospital by 2011. In addition, the government will provide subsidies for insurance premiums in a bid to get basic insurance coverage for 90% of citizens by 2011. Of course there weren’t any details about how the country will reform the public hospital system, making this blueprint, shall we say… somewhat incomplete. Nonetheless, most see the news as a step in the right direction. Markets agreed with the conventional wisdom, with shares in Shanghai hitting a new seven-month high on Tuesday. The SCI was up 0.8% to 2,439.182 with commodity and health-care related stocks leading the way.