The Chinese Government will raise subsidies for rural residents' medical insurance in 2013, Minister of Health Chen Zhu announced on January 7.

Under the New Rural Cooperative Medical Program, the annual government subsidy for each rural resident will be increased from the current 240 yuan ($38.57) to 280 yuan ($44.99), Chen said at the National Health Work Conference in Beijing.

Rural residents participating in the program will each pay an annual premium of 60 yuan ($9.64).

China launched the rural insurance scheme in 2003 in a bid to ensure that the country's vast number of rural residents have access to affordable medical treatment and to reduce disease-triggered poverty.

The amount of people covered by the program has skyrocketed from 80 million to 900 million.