A hospital named "New Century" in Jilin City requested patients to "first go through discharge procedures and then re-admission" on December 31st of last year, and charged the medical insurance "starting fee" again. For this, the hospital side claimed that it was stipulated by the medical insurance center.
According to a patient's introduction, although the inpatients were still under treatment on December 31st of last year, the hospital encouraged them, regardless of whether they had medical insurance or not, to go through discharge procedures and then readmission procedures the next day. Everything remained unchanged except for the extra paperwork, which resulted in two "starting fees".
The reporter then consulted the hospital about this matter. The hospital side stated that they encouraged patients to first go through discharge and then readmission procedures because it was stipulated by the medical insurance center. When asked if all hospitals in Jilin City did this, the hospital replied: "It should be, city-wide unified."
According to China National Radio,
Understandably, according to the current basic medical insurance system, insured persons must first bear a part of the actual hospitalization medical expenses incurred at designated medical institutions before the medical insurance fund pays out according to the specified ratio. The portion that individuals must bear first is called the "starting fee".