Comment

Say goodbye to government-paid medical coverage

By Liu Kailing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-29 08:02

By the end of this year, 450, 000 public servants in Beijing will switch from government-paid medical care to basic employees' health insurance. The medical subsidies provided by local government offices will ensure they enjoy no less favorable treatment than before.

For company employees, government-paid medical care is already history. When I read the news, I felt both happy and sad.

Although the medical reform is based on the principle of no less favorable service standards, it will still be progress for the public servants to join the basic medical insurance.

For the majority of the people who have never enjoyed government-paid medical care, the fact that public servants will pay part of their medical bills is more or less a psychological comfort.

I expect all government staff will join the medical insurance, bidding farewell to the government-paid medical care that smacks of special rights and privileges.

However, public servants enjoy far more perks than government-paid medical care.

For example, housing reform has been under way for 12 years in China. But while the government provides housing to public servants, some local authorities are still paying large amounts of housing subsidies to public servants or allowing them to buy flats at a discount.

The welfare of public servants is guaranteed by government policies. Despite widespread public disapproval, their privileges are still retained due to lack of supervision of public servants. The government may find it necessary to hold public hearings to appease the public opinion before it raises prices for utilities. But it doesn't have to do so when providing welfare to its staff.

Such behavior has violated the administrative ethics and become a source of social injustice. Public servants have the power to provide welfare to themselves, but who will take care of others who may not even be able to enjoy basic medical insurance?

Moreover, besides a complete welfare system and stable working environment, public servants are also associated with frequent sightseeing tours, dining and wining, and transportation, all at public expense. The website that handles online applications for government jobs once crashed due to overwhelming public demand.

Come to think of it, who doesn't want to be a public servant who still has free medical care at a time when most other people are plagued by difficulties trying to see doctors and pay for expensive bills?

The public policies that help the government staff instead of the poor can be best described by the line in the Gospel of Matthew: "To all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away."

The promotion of social justice is a complex project, with equality of distribution of wealth as the core issue. The government should be able to narrow the income gaps among different social groups and reduce the Matthew effect.

Excerpts of a comment that appeared on www.xinhuanet.com on April 26.