Is medical insurance social security?

Medical insurance is not social security, and social security includes medical insurance.

Social security refers to social insurance, including pension insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, work injury insurance and maternity insurance. Medical insurance is just one of the five social insurances. Medical insurance is insurance to compensate medical expenses caused by diseases. When employees get sick, injured or give birth, society or enterprises provide necessary medical services or material help.

Medical insurance generally refers to basic medical insurance, which is a social insurance system established to compensate workers for economic losses caused by disease risks. The medical insurance fund is established through the contributions of employers and individuals. After the insured person has medical expenses, the medical insurance institution will give certain economic compensation.

The origin of medical insurance

In the traditional sense, medical insurance refers to raising medical insurance funds among certain insured people in a certain area through mandatory policies and regulations or voluntary contracts handled by specific organizations or institutions. Medical insurance originated in western Europe and can be traced back to the Middle Ages.

With the success of the bourgeois revolution, family workshops were replaced by large industries, and modern industrial teams emerged. Due to the harsh working environment, epidemics and industrial accidents, workers need corresponding medical care. But their wages are low, and it is difficult for individuals to pay medical expenses. Therefore, workers in many places spontaneously organized themselves to raise some money for expenses when they were sick.

This form is not very stable, and its scope is small and its ability to resist risks is very low. It was not until the end of 18 and the beginning of 19 that private insurance developed in western Europe and became an important way for the state to raise medical funds.