Hundreds of elderly people staged a protest in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Wednesday, in what appeared to be a sign of widespread discontent over the government’s recent changes to the national health insurance system.
Hundreds of elderly people gathered outside Wuhan’s Zhongshan Park, less than a mile from city government offices, surrounded by rows of police officers, according to a family whose parents attended the protest and another who saw the rally from a nearby building. watch. The previous person said the protests were related to health care policy.
Local police blocked one side of the road outside the park, and public transport, including buses, taxis and the subway, appeared to have been prevented from stopping in the area, the people said.
China has been promoting the adjustment of medical insurance policies since 2021, which will reduce the transfer of personal accounts in exchange for the expansion of outpatient medical services.
In recent months, governments in several provinces and regions across China have embarked on health care reforms that have slashed Medicaid benefits for some, especially the elderly, sparking public outrage. Local governments have been empowered to determine the timing and size of these Medicaid cuts.
China’s local governments have long faced a fiscal shortfall, a situation exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic as public funds were diverted to measures such as mass COVID-19 testing. During the epidemic, concerns about the public health system have also intensified. At the end of last year, after the Chinese government suddenly relaxed the three-year dynamic anti-epidemic policy, the medical treatment capacity of public hospitals reached its limit. China is also facing a shift in the age structure of its population, with a shrinking working-age population and a growing elderly population in need of support.
China’s annual “two sessions” are just weeks away in Beijing, when top Chinese leaders are expected to announce new fiscal policies. Ahead of such political meetings, the Chinese government typically ramps up its defenses against social unrest.
Earlier this month, there were demonstrations after Wuhan city government officials announced that new health insurance policies would be implemented on February 1. Hundreds of elderly people protested in front of local government offices last week, according to the family whose parents attended Wednesday’s protest in Wuhan. His parents also participated in last week’s protest, he said. His parents worked in a local state-owned enterprise before retiring. Some demonstrators who participated in the protest last week also called for the resignation of the city government leadership.
On Wednesday, some protesters sang the 19th-century socialist anthem “The Internationale” and the Chinese patriotic anthem “Unity is Strength,” according to the person and video clips circulating on social media. Two of the video clips were confirmed by Storyful, a social media research firm owned by News Corp, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal.
Some police officers joined hands to prevent the protesters from growing in ranks and to separate them from passers-by, according to video clips on social media and the person whose parents attended the demonstration.
Similar protests took place Wednesday in the northeastern city of Dalian, where many elderly people gathered in a square near local government offices, according to a person who witnessed the demonstration. The person added that police surrounded the area with buses and local officers advised protesters to leave.
Government departments in Wuhan and some other parts of China have released documents in an attempt to explain the health care policy changes to citizens and calm public discontent. Officials said the Medicare New Deal aims to address longstanding problems in the public health insurance system and benefit more people.
Protesters say some commonly used drugs have become unaffordable under the new policy. Others expressed anger that some cities excluded their civil servants from the health care reform.
Government officials in Wuhan and Dalian, reached by phone, declined to comment.
By late Wednesday morning, online videos and discussions of the protests had largely disappeared on Chinese social media platforms. Searches of the protest and its location also turned up nothing.
(Correction: The fourth paragraph of an earlier version of this article made a mistake in the adjustment of China’s medical insurance policy. It should read “in exchange for the expansion of the scope of outpatient medical services by reducing personal account transfers.” It is hereby corrected.)
