Zhenjiang Becomes China's Second City to Launch Medical Insurance Mobile Payment via Alipay

According to the Zhenjiang Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission, the first batch of pilot hospitals includes Zhenjiang First People's Hospital and Zhenjiang Fourth People's Hospital. These two hospitals have currently entered the internal testing phase, with full official launch expected by the end of this month.

For first-time use, Zhenjiang residents can open Alipay’s “City Services,” navigate to “Electronic Social Security Card,” and link their activated social security financial card within the app. Thereafter, during appointment registration and in-clinic payments, users can complete mobile online payments for both insurance-covered and out-of-pocket expenses with a single click on their smartphones.

Combined with the previously launched appointment registration service, Zhenjiang residents can now complete the entire medical process cashless using just a smartphone, significantly reducing queue times and alleviating the long-standing “three longs and one short” problem in hospitals.

Unlike Shenzhen, the launch of mobile medical insurance payments in Jiangsu Province stems from the rollout of the “One-Net Government Services” platform, a collaborative initiative between the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government, Alibaba, and Ant Financial. Among the 36,000 government services offered, mobile medical insurance payment is one of the key breakthrough projects. As a pilot city for mobile medical insurance payments in Jiangsu Province, the Zhenjiang Municipal People’s Government established a dedicated project team, with multi-departmental coordination involving the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, the Health and Family Planning Commission, and hospitals, to address a series of issues including user real-name authentication, account registration, and risk control and security.

Wang Bo, General Manager of the Healthcare Industry at Ant Financial, introduced that mobile payment for medical insurance, as a key component of Ant Financial’s open capabilities, has been standardized through experience accumulated in Shenzhen and Zhenjiang, enabling rapid integration with provinces and municipalities across China.

As the first city in China to launch mobile payment for medical insurance, Shenzhen has integrated Alipay’s mobile medical insurance payment system into 14 hospitals.

Wang Bo revealed that Alipay has already engaged with provincial and municipal human resources and social security bureaus across China, with collaborations launched in some provinces and cities. More cities are expected to roll out the service throughout this year.