Development and Reform Commission: Medical Pricing or Release Focus

As the government accelerates the transformation of its functions, government pricing has gradually faded out of the market. A few days ago, a reporter from the Beijing Business Daily learned from the National Development and Reform Commission that since late November 2014, the National Development and Reform Commission has issued eight documents with related departments, releasing 24 items of goods and services, and devolving one item of pricing authority. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 50 categories of pricing that have not been liberalized. The prices of medicine and natural gas are expected to become the focus of future liberalization. The industry believes that although significant progress has been made in price reforms in recent years, after deregulating the pricing power of the first batch of projects, what future NDRC's decentralization space seems more worth looking forward to?

Unleash the price of 24 items of goods and services

The prices of the 24 commodities and services that were released this time included tobacco leaf purchase price, railway bulk cargo express, railway parcel transportation price, social capital control investment holding new rail freight price, passenger line travel fare, domestic civil aviation freight and part The price of civil aviation passenger transport, port competitive service charges, ex-factory price of civil explosion equipment, real estate appraisal, and other 7 service prices, residential community parking and other 9 service prices. After the price of tobacco leaf was liberalized, there was no government pricing project in the agricultural product sector in China and all markets were free to form prices.

In fact, since last year, the National Development and Reform Commission has successively liberalized all telecommunications tariffs, price of cargo pools in quasi-pool railways, low-priced medicines in the medical insurance catalog, prices of medical services in non-public hospitals, and seed production, silkworm cocoons, small industrial salt, and other industrial and agricultural production. Data prices; Decentralized management authority for real estate brokerage fees, only the first 8 months of last year, the National Development and Reform Commission has opened 26 items of goods and services prices.

Zhao Ping, deputy director of the Consumer Economics Research Department of the Ministry of Commerce, believes that the market determines the price is the basic consensus of the market economy. The National Development and Reform Commission to accelerate the price reform is to implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee and better use the market in resource allocation. The decisive role. By liberalizing prices, the government's direct intervention in the market can be reduced, and the concept of “ruling the country according to law” proposed by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee can also be practiced.

There are still more than 50 types of pricing not released

Beijing Business Daily reporter combed and found that according to the current "Government Pricing Catalog", there are 16 kinds of categories of government pricing, large amounts of hydropower traffic, small textbooks and property, all involved. According to incomplete statistics, there are a total of more than 70 pricing items involved in these 16 kinds. In addition to some of the previously released pricing items, there are still more than 50 types of government pricing that have not yet been involved, including electricity and water prices and education fees. Funeral services charges and so on.

On December 12 last year, Xu Shaoshi, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, once said that this year will accelerate the promotion of price reform. Implement the reform plan passed by the State Council, let go of a batch of prices, decentralize a batch of pricing powers, and revise the government pricing catalog as soon as possible.

An official of the National Development and Reform Commission told the Beijing Business Daily that after the release of the NDRC, the NDRC has already priced it at a low price, and it is not easy to disclose how many specific prices it has.

Hong Tao, director of the Institute of Economics at Beijing Technology and Business University, said that although there are not many dozens of categories, these projects themselves include many specific sub-items. For example, the pricing of intermediary services may include previously released real estate consulting and asset evaluation. Services, real estate brokerage services, etc. These prices that have not yet been released are closely related to people's livelihood, such as water and electricity prices, salt, and funeral services. Therefore, the NDRC will still have room for price liberalization.

Pharmaceutical natural gas or into focus

Xu Kunlin, Director of the Price Division of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that this is the first batch of projects launched in the current round of price reforms. The second batch and the third batch will be launched one after another. The more difficult the future, the reforms that will promote the price of medical services, including energy. Reform of prices in fields, electricity, natural gas, etc.

“This round of price reform is to comprehensively sort out existing government pricing and government-guided prices, and liberalize unreservedly the conditions for competition liberalization,” said Xu Kunlin.

Lin Boqiang, director of the China Energy Economic Research Center at Xiamen University, pointed out that with the advancement of price reform in the energy sector, natural gas prices are expected to be released first. At present, natural gas prices for non-residents have already been marketized, and residents’ natural gas-incremental gas has also become market-based. The sub-price adjustment is already approaching the incremental gas price. Coupled with the current continuous decline in the prices of international commodities, the incremental gas and stock gas prices have been basically the same, and the price of natural gas has been released.

In addition, pharmaceutical prices are also the focus of liberalization. It is reported that as early as last November, the National Development and Reform Commission has issued drafts for consultation to the price departments of various provinces to discuss the full liberalization of drug prices. In this consultation draft, statements such as “partial release of medical service prices” and “first release of basic drug prices during the year” were clearly proposed for the first time.

Zhao Ping cautioned that caution should be exercised when liberalizing some government pricing. Some monopoly conditions exist in some government-priced markets. If there are not enough competitors to liberalize prices, it is likely that prices will be manipulated by several monopolies. The price liberalization needs supporting the corresponding market and system reform.