Health sector reforms in contemporary China. A political perspective

In the last thirty years, the Chinese public health care system has experienced a pervasive restructuring process, whose trajectory has been largely defined by the state in accord with national development priorities. Following market-oriented reforms in the 1980s and 1990s, considerable economic interests emerged in this area. Drawing largely on data collected through fieldwork between 2008 and 2011, this paper attempts to investigate the processes which led to the constitution of economically driven interests in the Chinese health care sector in the post-Mao era, how they exerted their influence on the commitments taken by the Hu-Wen leadership towards a more balanced pattern of development and which avenues they might follow in articulating demands upon the political system. Finally, the paper introduces the coordinates of the most recent developments in the health care reform and the relevant debate involving central leadership, health care providers and pharmaceutical producers.