China on Thursday announced a decision to expand the coverage of the country's healthcare insurance system to include the treatment of critical illnesses, aiming to prevent patients from being reduced to poverty by necessary healthcare costs.

本周四，中国宣布将重大疾病纳入全国医保报销范围，以防止因病致贫情况的发生。

Critical illness指“重大疾病”，critical illness insurance program就是“重大疾病保险”。虽然目前的basic healthcare insurance system（基本医保体系）和new rural cooperative medical care system（新农合医保体系）已经覆盖了全国95%的人口，但在遇到重大疾病时，人们的medical expenditure（医疗费用）负担仍然很重，不少家庭甚至fall into poverty because of illnesses（因病致贫）。

意见指出，政府将通过招标方式选择qualified commercial insurers（符合条件的商业保险机构）承办大病险。各地政府可按照当地情况制定fundraising（筹资）、reimbursement（报销）等细则。