免费用药政策对促进中国药品公平可及的启示

促进药品公平可及是保障卫生公平性的重要内容。国际上通过免费用药政策保障药品公平可及是通行惯例,大部分国家免费用药政策覆盖人群包括无支付能力的患者、5岁以下儿童、孕妇和老年人,免费药品包括基本药物、慢性病用药、传染性疾病和疫苗等,免费用药筹资来源包括医疗保险、政府财政直接投入和国际援助,免费用药发放多依赖公立医疗机构。我国免费用药政策主要针对部分传染性疾病和疫苗,疾病覆盖面较窄。本文认为,我国经济发展已达到中等收入国家水平,应当扩大针对糖尿病、高血压等慢性病免费用药范围,并通过对基本药物免费进一步促进中国药品公平可及。

Free pharmaceutical policy to promote equity and access: Its implications for China

Promoting equity and access to medicine is important to guarantee health equity. The international communities commonly guarantee equity and access to medicine through free pharmaceutical policy. In most countries, free pharmaceutical policy covers patients who cannot afford, children under 5, pregnant women and elderly people. The free medicines include essential medicines, medicines for chronic and infectious diseases, vaccines, etc. Financing of free medicines comes from health insurance, direct government investment and international aid, and the medicine delivery mainly depends on the public medical institutions. Free pharmaceutical policy in China mainly refers to medicines for infectious diseases and vaccines, and the coverage is narrow. This paper argues that since China has been becoming one of the middle income countries, the amount of free medicines should be increased, especially for chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, etc. The equity and access to medicine in China should be further promoted by providing all essential medicines for free.