Yueran Zhang senior contributor  For China’s Healthcare System,
One Small Step Forward  At the end of August—a month filled with
miserable, bloody accidents in China–finally came a piece of
good news.  On August 30, the Chinese Ministry of Health,
together with five other bureaus, launched a new healthcare
insurance program, referred to by Chinese media as “Severe-
disease Insurance” (大病医保). The new program would reimburse at
least 50% of the expenses of severe disease treatment, not
counting that portion already covered by basic healthcare
insurance. Those who participate in China’s basic medical
insurance program are automatically enrolled in the new program,
without paying any extra fees. “Severe diseases” are regionally
defined as conditions for which the cost of medical treatment
exceeds the average annual income of residents in a given
region. The higher the expense, the larger proportion that will
be reimbursed.  Chinese citizens lining up to pay for medical
care  On Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, netizen