Zhejiang Launches Mobile Medical Insurance Payment with Jiaxing as the First Pilot City

Mobile medical insurance payment has been implemented in Zhejiang Province, with Jiaxing becoming the first city in the province to offer this service. This also makes Jiaxing the third city in China to enable mobile medical insurance payment, following Shenzhen and Zhenjiang.

Going forward, residents of Jiaxing can complete the entire hospital visit process—including appointment registration, payment, and report viewing—entirely on their mobile phones, without the need to carry cash or social security cards. For first-time use, Jiaxing residents can link their social security cards to Alipay; during appointment registration and in-clinic payments, they can complete online mobile payments for both insurance-covered and out-of-pocket expenses with a single tap on their phones.

Jiaxing is the only third-tier city in China approved to establish itself as a “Benchmark City for New-Type Smart Cities.” In 2017, amid numerous “Smart City Construction” initiatives, the Jiaxing Municipal Government and its subordinate Leading Group Office for New-Type Smart City Construction prioritized the implementation of mobile payment for medical insurance. This strategic move aimed to tangibly facilitate residents’ daily lives, enhance the efficiency of public services, and improve overall public well-being.

According to VCBeat, the Jiaxing Social Security Bureau had already initiated cooperation and integration with Alipay as early as late 2016. The first pilot hospital for mobile medical insurance payments was the Jiaxing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, with trial operations expected to launch by mid-April. Once implemented, this initiative will significantly reduce queue times, enhance the patient experience, and help alleviate the long-standing issue of “three long waits and one short consultation” in hospitals.

Previously, under the unified coordination and promotion of the Jiaxing Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission, several key hospitals—including Jiaxing First Hospital, Jiaxing Second Hospital, Jiaxing Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Jiaxing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, and Zhejiang Rongjun Hospital—had already implemented mobile healthcare services via Alipay, such as appointment registration, payment, and report retrieval. However, these services only supported mobile payments for out-of-pocket expenses.

In the future, leveraging the “Health Jiaxing” unified medical service platform and in partnership with Alipay, Jiaxing will rapidly implement mobile payment for medical insurance, thereby enhancing residents’ healthcare experience.

The 2017 Zhejiang Provincial Government Work Report emphasized the need to accelerate the “At Most One Visit” reform. A relevant official from the Jiaxing Municipal Government stated that, as a special scenario, hospitals can achieve zero physical visits for payment by patients or their families through mobile medical insurance payments.