A total of 1.6 million people in the city have tied their social security cards to online payment service platforms such as Alipay, WeChat Wallet and UnionPay to pay their medical bills online.
At present, a total of 32 hospitals in the city accept online payments, with transactions reaching 84 million yuan (US$12.67 million) since June 2016 when the service was first introduced. By the end of the year, the number of hospitals accepting online payment is expected to reach 35, according to a news conference by the Shenzhen Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau on Tuesday.
In addition to the online payment upgrade, the bureau will expand the scope of social security cards by covering more services, sending text messages to account owners about balance changes of their personal social security accounts, electronic insurance certificates and credit-based advanced payment to help payers who forget to pay their social security fees on time.
It will also cover online payment for child insurance card users.
Since May, the bureau has adopted a facial recognition system, through cooperation with Alipay and Tencent, to help retirees in the city receive their pensions. So far, more than 8,000 retirees have registered for the service.
The social security fund income between January and November this year reached 139.5 billion yuan, an increase of 41 percent compared with the same period last year. Expenditure also increased by 31 percent to 49 billion yuan. By the end of November, the fund’s balance stood at 533.7 billion yuan.
The bureau has also handed over four fraud cases involving social security fund to police for investigation this year. Three cases have been filed for investigation.