805 million people

Some 805 million people - or 98 percent of China's rural population - were covered by the rural medical insurance system at the end of 2012, Health Minister Chen Zhu said on Thursday. Under the new rural cooperative medical program, health funding per rural resident reached 300 yuan ($48) last year, Chen told a health work conference in Beijing. According to the ministry, 1.5 billion people received reimbursement provided by the medical program in 2012.

(China Daily 02/22/2013 page2)