China is aiming to complete universal social insurance coverage registration by the end of 2017.
At the end of 2013, China's pension insurance covered 820 million people while its medical insurance plan covered more than 1.3 billion. China is on its way to achieving universal coverage and because of that, the government has decided to complete universal registration of basic information for every citizen eligible for coverage by the end of 2017. Officials say this isn't an easy task.
"We will focus on the area of pension and medical insurance, and we will ensure by completion of the universal registration that there will be a social insurance code for every citizen," said Hu Xiaoyi, vice minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. "This will help us achieve our goal of basic universal coverage in the future."
The official also says that in order to better its social security services, China is moving lots of information and procedures online.
"We will utilize technologies such as big data and cloud computing, in order to build a comprehensive online service platform, and also make it easier for different departments to share information," Hu said.
Hu also says the ministry estimates that by 2017, basic pension insurance coverage will reach more than 90 percent.