Recently, the topic of “Beijing retirees can also have their prenatal check-ups reimbursed” has trended on Weibo, sparking controversy.
At the beginning of the new year in 2026, Beijing, Ningxia, Fuzhou, and other places have significantly increased the reimbursement level for prenatal check-up expenses.
On January 12th, the Beijing Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau, together with the Municipal Finance Bureau, issued a notice titled “Regarding Strengthening Issues Related to Beijing’s Prenatal Check-up Expense Guarantee.” Starting from January 1, 2026, the fee reimbursement for prenatal check-ups for all types of medical insurance participants will be comprehensively increased. It includes adding coverage for prenatal check-up medical expenses for flexible employees, retirees, and insured residents.
According to the notice, for female workers participating in Beijing’s maternity insurance, the prenatal check-up expenses within the scope of medical insurance coverage that used to be reimbursed up to 3000 yuan have now been raised to 100% reimbursement for expenses up to 3000 yuan and 30% reimbursement for expenses exceeding 3000 yuan, with a maximum fund payment of 10,000 yuan. Retirees enjoying Beijing’s employee medical insurance benefits will have their prenatal check-up expenses paid by the employee medical insurance according to the aforementioned maternity insurance reimbursement standards.
This news has attracted widespread attention, with some netizens posting humorous comments.
“Looking at the trending topic, I’m at a loss.” “Retired with nothing to do, playing at childbirth.” “Young people work and retirees give birth, haha.” “I thought the editor made a typo, do retirees really need prenatal check-ups?” “I read it multiple times to make sure my eyes and understanding are okay.” “How old are retirees? Most of them are already menopausal, can they still have children?”
According to a report by Red Star News on January 13th, reporters contacted the Beijing Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau multiple times to further understand the original intention and background of the design of the reimbursement for retirees’ prenatal check-ups but did not receive a response.
In recent years, China’s marriage rate has continued to plummet due to high costs of marriage and childbearing, economic pressure, and phenomena such as the “four do not marry” trend, resulting in a low willingness to marry among young people. Although the Communist Party has abolished the one-child policy and implemented various measures to encourage childbirth and marriage (such as childbirth subsidies), the effect has been limited, highlighting a disconnect between policies and the actual challenges faced by the younger generation. As of now, the official marriage registration figures for the fourth quarter of 2025 have not been released.
Recently, several interviewees and grassroots workers revealed to Epoch Times that although the number of marriage registrations has increased, the new registrations are mainly concentrated among middle-aged and elderly people remarrying, with some individuals receiving marital guidance from community organizations.
Ms. Wang, a community worker in Haidian District, Beijing, told an Epoch Times reporter that in recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in the proportion of middle-aged and elderly people remarrying in marriage registrations. “Currently, there are policies encouraging elderly people to marry. We also have targets for promoting marriage, mobilizing divorced individuals to remarry. Some areas even provide subsidies or bonuses, so the number of registrations appears to have increased, but there aren’t many young people getting married.”
Ms. Wang pointed out that some middle-aged and elderly people choose to remarry because their children are already married and their lives are relatively stable or they are encouraged by policies, leading to an increase in the total number of marriage registrations statistically, but this change does not align with the marriage choices of the younger generation.
Sociologist Huang Baibo, who focuses on family structure issues, told Epoch Times that within the prioritized goal of maintaining stability and controllability in the Communist system, marriage is seen as a social behavior that needs to be “managed” and “guided,” rather than the result of individual choices. “When the system itself fails to address housing, employment, and expectations, warming phenomena can only be artificially created in numbers.”
He believes that this approach may help maintain the official narrative in the short term, but in the long run, it will deepen the public’s distrust of data and further diminish young people’s trust in the institution of marriage.