(Yicai Global) March 29 -- A number of experts suggest that China should downgrade its Covid-19 insurance reimbursement management level to a Class B infectious disease in line with its classification of the disease.

Insurance claims made for Covid treatments should be managed with the measures for Class B infectious diseases as soon as possible because the pandemic has reached the bottom, Liao Cangyi, an associate professor of public administration at China University of Political Science and Law, told Yicai Global.

China lowered its classification of the coronavirus to a Class B infectious disease from Class A on Jan. 8, leading to the end of quarantine rules for international arrivals. But it also introduced a temporary medical insurance reimbursement policy that would continue to treat Covid-19 as Class A to fully cover the costs of inpatients and at least 70 percent of those of outpatients.

The policy is due to expire at the end of this month and an announcement on its replacement is expected soon.

The daily number of Covid-related insurance reimbursements is very small, so managing such cases according to regulations for Class B infectious diseases can also protect patients’ rights and interests, according to an official in charge of one region’s medical insurance department. There is no need to renew the policy, the person added.

If there is another Covid-19 wave, China can still make interim adjustments to policy as well as prevention and control measures, a researcher of China’s medical insurance system said.

China included four homegrown Covid-19 antiviral drugs -- Azvudine, Mindewei, Xiannuoxin, and Ray1216 -- and the imported treatments Paxlovid and Molnupiravir in the temporary medical insurance reimbursement list. Whether they remain listed depends on the new policy, experts noted, adding that their pricing should be one of the main factors under consideration.

During the more than three years of the pandemic, China has reimbursed almost all expenses for Covid-19 treatments.

Editor: Zhang Yushuo, Futura Costaglione