The special drug insurance coverage launched at the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone in Hainan Province earlier in August will be expanded starting September 1, said the administration of the pilot zone on Aug 23.  

All those having a Hainan's ID card number (ID card number starting with 46) are allowed to purchase the insurance, regardless of their place of work, residence and social insurance availability.

Before the expansion, the insurance is only open to people in Hainan Province with the basic medical insurance for urban employees, the basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents, or the medical subsidies for civil servants.

The special drug insurance covers 70 anti-cancer drugs worldwide, including 49 that haven't been approved to be sold in the Chinese market, for treatment of 35 common cancers. These drugs are not covered by medical insurance and some are newly developed.

The insurance is inclusive medical fee supplementary medical insurance with a policy term of one year. The annual premium for Hainan residents is only 29 yuan ($4.16) per person, and the insurance amount is one million yuan.

Currently the special drug insurance is available for 600,000 people who work and live in 13 prefecture-level cities across China. After the Sept 1 expansion, coverage is expected to be adjusted further with more overseas special drugs added to the list.

"The move is to protect more people including migrant workers in Hainan Province," said Gu Gang, Party Secretary of the Hainan Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone Administration. This special drug insurance will be open to people in other provinces in China later, he added.

The Lecheng pilot zone will also build a comprehensive insurance service platform to develop the health insurance industry, provide more patients with health services and supervise medical insurance operating data.

The platform will work with domestic and foreign insurance companies to design more insurance products, aiming to reduce people’s medical financial burden by providing pharmaceuticals and pharmacy services listed or unlisted in China.

By innovating the "medical insurance + commercial insurance" form, the Boao Lecheng pilot zone will improve its multi-level guarantee system and establish a closed loop enabling patients in the pilot zone to get access to innovative international drugs.