Once you set up family medical expense sharing in the yibao app, funds from your individual medical insurance account can be used to pay for your spouse, parents, and children’s medical care and medication.

13. Once you set up family medical expense sharing in the yibao app, funds from your individual medical insurance account can be used to pay for your spouse, parents, and children’s medical care and medication.

Cost: No cost at all. You can set up family medical expense sharing either through your local medical insurance app or by visiting a local medical insurance office.

In plain terms: After completing this setup, any money in your individual yibao account can be used to cover medical expenses and medication costs for your spouse, parents, and children. Without this setup, those funds remain locked in your account for your own use only.

Benefit: Funds in your individual medical insurance account can be used to pay for any out-of-pocket medical costs you, your spouse, parents, or children incur at designated medical institutions. They can also be used to cover out-of-pocket costs for purchasing medicines, medical devices, and other medical supplies at designated retail pharmacies. Additional plans are also in place to explore allowing these funds to be used to pay for basic medical insurance premiums for eligible family members.

Evidence grade: A

Sources: General Office of the State Council of China (2021). Guiding Opinions on Establishing and Improving the Outpatient Mutual Aid Mechanism for Employee Basic Medical Insurance (Guobanfa [2021] No. 14) Item (5): "Personal accounts are mainly used to pay out-of-pocket expenses incurred by insured persons within the scope of the policy at designated medical institutions or designated retail pharmacies. It can be used to pay the insured person himself and his spouse, parents, Personal accounts are used for personal contributions of spouses, parents, and children to participate in urban and rural residents' basic medical insurance, etc. Personal accounts are not used for public health expenses. Expenditures such as sports and fitness or health care consumption are not covered by basic medical insurance. "<https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2021-04/22/content_5601280.htm>

Notes: Many people have thousands of yuan sitting unused in their individual medical insurance accounts, while elderly family members often have to pay for medicines out of pocket. This setup is valid for the long term once completed. Most regions refer to this service as “family medical expense sharing”, and it can be set up directly through local medical insurance apps. There is a strict rule against using these funds for fitness activities, wellness services, or similar purposes. Using these funds to buy health supplements at pharmacies for cash payouts is considered insurance fraud.