More than 10 Chinese provinces and major municipalities have scrapped household registration restrictions for medical insurance enrolment, reports Caixin.
More than 10 Chinese provinces and major municipalities have scrapped household registration restrictions for medical insurance enrolment, reports Caixin.
The reform is seen as a major step in dismantling barriers that have long hindered labour mobility. The hukou system has historically denied migrant workers and flexible employees equal access to public services outside their hometowns.
Full implementation faces challenges, however, as local governments in wealthier population centres are reluctant to bear the fiscal burden of subsidising health coverage for new arrivals. This has created disparities in how the reforms are applied nationwide.
Provinces including Guangxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Yunnan, Shanxi, Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia, along with cities such as Zhengzhou, Shijiazhuang and Hefei, have announced that flexible workers and gig economy labourers can now enrol in employee or resident medical insurance programmes based on their place of residence rather than their hukou.
