Beijing Municipal Labor and Social Security Bureau is to issue 10 million social insurance cards to its residents.

The card is available to four groups: employees and retirees of companies, business undertakings, government departments, or social organizations; self-employed people who have joined the social insurance system; retired people, pre-school children and babies, the unemployed, and senior citizens; students and children in kindergartens.

Initially the card will be used for medical insurance and then it will be progressively used for pensions, employment, social welfare, social relief, and community service. By the end of 2010, cardholders will be able to use the card in more than 1,800 designated hospitals in Beijing.

Zhang Dafa, a representative from BMLSSF, said that with the card, patients only need to pay their share of their medical expenses and the remainder of the payment will be dealt with by the hospital and the medical insurance department. In addition, the card is an all-in-one card and with it people will no longer need to hold many different medical cards when they go to see doctors at different hospitals.

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