In the past two years, the payment of NCMS has been "cold" in rural areas, and the participation rate of farmers has decreased significantly. In my hometown, for example, only more than half of the villagers have now paid for the NCMS, compared with almost every household in the past few years. A similar situation is also common in other villages, where only about 60 or 70 percent of the NCMS payment has been made, and one-third or more of the farmers still have not paid the premiums. Such a situation is obviously unreasonable, after all, NCMS is the only medical security for almost every rural person, and without NCMS, hospitalization and illness may lead to the problem of poverty due to illness and return to poverty due to illness. Although the payment of NCMS is voluntary, all localities will still ask village cadres to urge them to pay by publicizing the benefits of NCMS and informing them of the risks of not paying NCMS.
However, there are a small number of rural villages that implement illegal and illegal collection measures for the purpose of completing the NCMS payment task, which brings trouble to the villagers. For example, in the past, some places linked the payment of NCMS fees to children's primary school, and did not let children go to school without paying fees, which is obviously a violation. Recently, the author learned that Dayang Town, Qiaocheng District, Bozhou City, Anhui Province, punished village cadres for the low payment rate of NCMS. This has led me to think that putting pressure on village cadres may lead them to adopt unreasonable means to push farmers to pay fees, which is obviously inappropriate.
Why does the NCMS, which was previously popular with farmers, now need to be demanded?The author believes that the reasons may be as follows:
1.Improvement of payment standards: The latest payment standard of NCMS has reached 380 yuan per person per year, 30 yuan more than last year, 60 yuan more than the year before, and 100 yuan more than the year before last. For some farmers with financial difficulties, this increase may become one of the difficulties in paying contributions.
2.Reimbursement restrictions: Some farmers feel that even if they use NCMS for reimbursement, they will end up spending a lot of money, and they still have to bear a lot of medical expenses themselves. In this case, farmers may perceive the future of payment as uncertain and have doubts about participating in NCMS.
3.Balance clearing: NCMS is cleared every year, and even if there is no reimbursement for many years, there will be no balance accumulation in the account. Unlike previous years, where part of the amount can be accumulated, this provision of NCMS may also make some farmers feel dissatisfied and feel that there is no point in long-term accumulation.
Is it a reasonable and effective way to encourage farmers to pay fees by rewarding and punishing village cadres?It's a worthwhile question.
To some extent, exerting pressure on village cadres can help increase the payment rate and motivate them to be more active in pushing farmers to pay fees. However, there are also certain risks. Village officials may resort to improper means to complete their tasks, such as not allowing their children to go to school, which is not only illegal and unnecessary, but also causes unnecessary distress to farmers.
Based on this, the author believes that more attention should be paid to publicity and guidance, and through a comprehensive understanding of farmers' concerns and needs, we should provide them with more comprehensive and transparent information to attract them to participate in NCMS payment. At the same time, when formulating the NCMS policy, we should also give full consideration to the actual situation and affordability of farmers, so as to make the payment more reasonable and feasible.
The payment of NCMS is a voluntary act, and farmers cannot be required to participate through compulsory means. Rewarding and punishing village cadres as a means to promote NCMS payment needs to be used cautiously to avoid unreasonable behavior and unnecessary distress. On the contrary, farmers should be encouraged to actively participate in the payment of NCMS by strengthening publicity, comprehensively understanding farmers' needs, and providing more reasonable policies and services. This can not only protect the rights and interests of peasants in medical security, but also promote the development of rural medical and health undertakings.
Xinhua. (2021)..Xinhua.