Summary: The state of healthcare in China is in many ways better than it was in the era of the barefoot doctors, with average life expectancy in the country now trailing the United States by only three years and morbidity rates far lower too. But while even the most cutting-edge medical services are available in first-tier cities for a price, China's transition to a market economy has left many in the lurch, with out-of-pocket healthcare costs soaring even as the government rolls out more comprehensive health insurance support. How have the new healthcare system reforms inaugurated in 2009 worked out so far? If you're curious what's happening in the Chinese healthcare industry, don't miss this show. Joining Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn from Danwei (a Financial Times company) are three guests with deep expertise on the healthcare industry in China: Dai Lian, a former reporter for Caixin and now executive editor at CN-Healthcare; Benjamin Shobert, founder and managing director of Rubicon Strategy Group who writes on the Chinese healthcare market for CNBC and Forbes; and Dr. David Rutstein, Vice-President for Medical Affairs at United Family Healthcare and former acting deputy surgeon general of the United States. Note, our thanks to Damjan Denoble who writes for the Asia Healthcare Blog and was instrumental in setting up our guests for this week's discussion. So thanks Damjan! And please also note that we invite everyone to download and share this week's show as a standalone mp3 file, or keep yourself updated on the release of new shows with our Sinica RSS feed. And we hope you like the show!
