The Cultural Revolution Of China's Healthcare System

China’s healthcare has been through a roller coaster of reform, impacting the health of every citizen throughout history. The country has endured many impactful changes with the large shifts in power, eventually leading to its current healthcare system today. The Cultural Revolution of China was a starting point, with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) taking power in 1949. The CCP implemented a health system reflecting the Marxist communist ideology. Health care was universal. Due to almost free health care provided to every individual, no health insurance was necessary. All heath organizations and establishments were owned by the CPP, employing every healthcare worker (Blumenthal, 2015). The CCP initiated a program to address the healthcare

Free market reforms took over, as the government removed itself from funding hospitals and health services (Brink, 2015). Health care organizations turned into for-profit institutions, and healthcare workers were rewarded for increasing profits of hospitals (Mitsuhashi, 2005). The barefoot doctors promptly declined for they lost the trust of their local communities, reducing the numbers of patients they saw and transforming their practice to a more lucrative high paying practice that was becoming more popular in rural areas (Woodruff, 1986). The effects of these reforms had an extreme impact on Chinese citizens; in 1999 the number of rural people with health insurance was reduced to only 7% (Brink, 2015). The general distrust that was formed between citizens and healthcare professionals led to an extremely unstable society, plagued with discontent and anger towards the Chinese government. This eventually led to the decision of Chinese leaders to implement anther reform to eliminate the instability and return a comprehensive healthcare system to the people of China, leading to it’s healthcare system today (Blumenthal,

D). The observed life expectancy for the U.S in 2016 was 76.5 and 81.2 for males and females, respectively, and their infant mortality rate in 2016 was at a very low 5.8 deaths per 1000 births (UNDP, 2016). In contrast, India has a population size much closer to that of China, at 1.3 billion people, and has a GNI per capita of 1,670 dollars (World Bank, n.d. C). Although India is of a lower economical rank, China and India are much closer together in economic status than compared to the extremely high GNI per capita of the US. However, China’s life expectancy and infant mortality rates are significantly better than that of India. India’s female life expectancy for females being 9 years shorter than in China’s, and India’s infant mortality rate is at a shockingly higher 32.2 deaths per 1000 births (IHME, n.d. E). Although China is still a developing country, much of its health reflects similar values to developed