There is no obvious difference between national essential medicines and medicines under medical insurance in terms of safety, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, and national essential medicines have stronger attributes in terms of "preventing and treating necessity, guaranteeing supply, and prioritizing use".
The Opinions on Improving the National Essential Drug System, issued in September 2018, proposed that health insurance departments prioritize the inclusion of eligible therapeutic drugs in the national essential drug catalog into the scope of the health insurance catalog or the adjustment of the A and B classifications in accordance with procedures. So there is a crossover between national essential drugs and medicare drugs. But there are also some differences between the two, but different as follows:
1, the national essential drugs and health insurance drug catalog development department is different.
The national essential drugs are formulated by the National Health Commission, and the medical insurance drug catalog is formulated by the National Health Insurance Bureau.
2, the national essential drugs and medical insurance drug catalog version is different.
The latest national essential drugs is the 2018 version, and the latest medical insurance drug catalog is the 2017 version.
3, the number of drug catalogs is different.
The total varieties of national essential medicines have increased from 520 to 685, including 417 types of western medicines and 268 types of proprietary Chinese medicines. Based on the coverage of major clinical diseases, focusing on cancer, children's diseases, chronic diseases and other diseases, the new varieties include 12 anti-tumor drugs, 22 clinically needed children's drugs, and the WHO recommended the world's first and the only one in the country to treat hepatitis C. The new varieties include 12 anti-tumor drugs, 22 clinically needed children's drugs, and the first and only one in the world to treat hepatitis C recommended by WHO.
Medicare drugs are divided into A and B categories. There are 315 Class A varieties and 818 Class B varieties in the western medicine section, and 135 Class A varieties and 792 Class B varieties in the proprietary Chinese medicine section. Workers' compensation insurance drugs are not divided into A and B categories.
4. The local adjustment policies of each province and city are different.
National basic drugs in addition to the national adjustment, other provinces and cities may not be adjusted. And the medical insurance drug catalog because of the division of class A and B drugs, class B drugs can be adjusted locally.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Basic Medicare Drugs
Baidu Encyclopedia - National Essential Drugs Catalog