In order to reduce the financial burden on local residents with serious diseases, the city government is partnering with nine insurance companies to introduce a new medical insurance plan that supplements the current government-run medical insurance program, officials announced today.

The new insurance plan called Huhuibao is eligible to all people who have the city’s medical insurance. Without restrictions on age, employment or health conditions, those eligible will pay a 115-yuan (US$17.7) annual fee for medical compensation of up to 2.3 million yuan, which extends to payments not covered by the current medical insurance program. There are different percentages of compensation in line with people's conditions.

Compensation includes hospitalization fees, 21 expensive medicines for cancer and rare diseases, as well as proton and heavy ion radiation treatments.

People can use their personal medical insurance accounts to pay the annual fee, which they can also use to pay for up to five direct relatives, including spouse, parents and children.

Payments for the first year’s Huhuibao run from today through June 30 and take effect on July 1. People can make payments through Huhuibao's public WeChat account, the city government'sSuishenban app and other methods such as Alipay.

People with questions can consult the hotline 4008955550.