Maternity benefits are directly paid to the individual, with new developments in Guangdong.

On July 8th, the Guangdong Provincial Medical Security Bureau issued a notice on further strengthening the work of guaranteeing maternity medical expenses, proposing to support and guide eligible regions to directly distribute maternity insurance allowances to insured individuals according to the procedures. It was learned that currently, only Qingyuan in Guangdong has implemented direct payment of maternity allowance to individuals. The notice specifies that for insured workers under maternity insurance, medical expenses incurred during prenatal check-ups and hospitalization for delivery, which fall within the payment scope of drugs, medical services, and medical consumables according to national and provincial regulations, will be fully covered by the basic medical insurance fund for employees. When paying for medication expenses, there is no distinction between class A and class B drugs, they will be paid as class A; and for medical services and medical consumables expenses, individuals do not need to initially pay out of pocket. Other medical expenses will be covered according to the relevant provisions of basic medical insurance. Localities can combine their own circumstances to improve the level of medical expense coverage for the spouses of unemployed workers and urban and rural residents during maternity. It is worth noting that the notice also proposes to "support and guide eligible regions to directly distribute maternity insurance allowances to insured individuals according to the procedures."