In 2026, promote all provinces to open individual accounts for employee medical insurance and achieve mutual assistance across provinces.

The National Medical Security Administration issued the first batch of key items list for the efficient management of medical insurance field in 2026 on February 10, which specifies that all provinces will open up cross-provincial mutual aid for employees' medical insurance personal accounts. According to the previous notice on the work of cross-provincial mutual aid for employees' basic medical insurance personal accounts, the scope of mutual aid applies to the close relatives of the insured persons of the basic medical insurance for employees, and the mutual aid funds can be used to pay for the personal burden expenses of the insured persons for medical treatment and drug purchases, as well as the personal payments for resident medical insurance and long-term care insurance. By the beginning of January 2026, 337 pooling areas have opened medical insurance wallets and achieved cross-provincial mutual aid. Furthermore, the list specifies that by the end of 2026, 80% of designated medical institutions nationwide will achieve real-time settlement; at least one batch of centralized procurement of national organized drugs and high-value medical consumables will be carried out; and it will basically achieve direct settlement of inpatient delivery and maternity medical expenses within the province's pooling areas. The list also includes service items such as direct payment of maternity benefits to individuals and cross-provincial access to medical insurance images for key hospitals.