In response to growing social pressures, China’s central government announced last year a series of health care reforms. Its goals are ambitious: to establish a basic, universal health care system that can provide safe, effective, convenient, and low-cost services to all of the country’s more than 1.3 billion citizens. The reforms therefore affect most facets of health care delivery, including insurance, primary care, hospital management, medications, and public health.

These reforms—and the $125 billion the government has committed to support them—will probably improve the quality of care and enhance health outcomes for the Chinese people. They will also stimulate China’s health care market and create opportunities for private payers, providers, and IT vendors.