More local patients are expected to benefit from a new medical insurance catalog, which has added 74 medications that cover the treatment of cancer, infections, chronic and rare diseases, as well as diseases in women and children.

Shenzhen began to adopt Guangdong Province’s new medical insurance drug list Saturday. The updated drug list was based on the new national medical insurance catalog, which took effect Jan. 1 this year, according to the Shenzhen Municipal Healthcare Security Bureau.

The National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) has been optimizing medical insurance fund spending and dynamically adjusting the catalog of drugs covered by medical insurance to incorporate more cost-effective items.

A total of 74 new medications were added to China’s national medical insurance catalog, the NHSA said in a press conference on Dec. 3, 2021, adding that 11 drugs were removed because they were relatively ineffective and replaceable.

Nusinersen sodium, a medication used in treating spinal muscular atrophy or SMA, a rare genetic disorder affecting muscle control, has been added to the updated catalog.

This special medication for SMA has raised heated discussions for its costly price – 700,000 yuan (US$109,830) per dose. Under the national medical insurance program, the medication’s price has been slashed to 33,000 yuan per dose.

Since December last year, a citizen surnamed Wu has been looking forward to 2022. Her family has a child afflicted with SMA, and the New Year will bring about profound changes to her kid’s treatment, according to the Daily Sunshine.

Wu said that in the process of seeking treatment for her child, she has encountered many other families that gave up or stopped medical treatment due to high costs. She recalled many patients and parents in their group chat became very emotional when this news was announced.

According to Wu, her child has completed six injections so far in the first year of treatment, and she felt that the child’s condition has already improved since taking the medication.

Although Wu doesn’t know yet how much out-of-pocket expenses they’ll have to pay after medical insurance coverage, she believes that her financial burdens will be greatly eased.