This book examines the introduction and ongoing development of public medical care insurance in contemporary China.

Based on extensive field investigations, residents’ surveys and analyses by local policy experts and practitioners it provides a comparative analysis of the marketization of public policy in China in contrast to those in other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Germany. The book highlights system-specific issues of the centrally planned economy (CPE) during economic reform, such as alienation of entitlements from funding and historically rooted obligations in the realm of public policy, and as such fills the gap in research on the Chinese government’s public financial management.

Public Policy and Health Care in China will appeal to students, academics and researchers interested in public policy and health care in China, as well as Chinese society and economics more broadly.