OBJECTIVES: On Feb 12, 2016, the State Council of China launched a new initiative to consolidate the two basic medical insurance programs: New Rural Cooperative Medical System (NRCMS) and Urban Residents' Basic Medical Insurance (URBMI). NRCMS currently covers approximately 790 million citizens and has a reimbursed drug list of less than 1000 products in general while URBMI covers approximately 315 million and has a reimbursed drug list of nearly 2400 products. The initiative seeks to set the same standards in six key areas for the former two insurance schemes: 1) coverage policy (i.e., align coverage to URBMI standard for all) , 2) source of funds, 3) reimbursement rate, 4) reimbursement list, including drugs and services, 5) management of audit, and 6) management of funds. Understanding how reimbursement and price will be determined under this new initiative, given the pressure to centralize decision making and establish value, will be essential to achieving market access success.  METHODS: Secondary research reviewed the data of centralized drug procurement and BMI premium income and expenditure at both national and regional level to estimate the market increment of NRCMS. Primary research was conducted with drug procurement officials, and national and regional payers to assess the use of value-based decision making.  RESULTS: The consolidation of the two schemes brings a significant increase in the drug budget and expenditures. The introduction of new policies to assist with centralized procurement of drugs such as therapeutic class reference will mean that companies need to consider even more the tradeoff between lower prices and much broader patient access and use. To widen adoption of appropriate use, companies also will need to optimize availability and access to innovative medicines in the true center of care and prescribing.  CONCLUSIONS: The new policies changes bring opportunities for companies to align product value to patient and reimbursement system requirements.