Retirees will possibly have to continue paying medical insurance. This is the message Minister of Finance Lou Jiwei gave in an article published at the end of 2015. It is both big and bad news for retired people who have long taken it for granted that they can enjoy their remaining years on regular pensions without paying any extra charges.

It will be very difficult for retirees to accept this policy, and they have reasons to believe that their living standards are being compromised by deducting a part, even if it's small, of their pensions for medical insurance.

Currently, after retirement civil servants as well as employees of State-owned enterprises and other institutions stop paying medical insurance. Given that they have worked for several decades and were underpaid during their younger days, they have been exempted from paying any extra fees or taxes and can enjoy their remaining years with the regular pensions they get.