Recently, I encountered a party involved in a case from over a decade ago. He had suffered a severe car accident that left him partially paralyzed and severely disabled. However, because the person who hit him was a minor at the time and the motorcycle involved had no insurance, he received almost no compensation for the accident. The amount that remained unenforced totaled as much as 1.3 million yuan. Recently, this individual faced another challenge: his father was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, and they had no money for treatment, which led him to seek our help.

Judicial Assistance

This individual’s situation is just one example of the many similar cases we have handled. For over a decade after 2000, due to weak safety awareness among traffic participants and relatively low traffic management standards, victims of traffic accidents often struggled to receive effective compensation.

In 2014, the state established a “judicial assistance” system. This system aims to provide relief for victims and their close relatives in criminal and civil infringement cases where the perpetrator cannot be identified, or the defendant lacks sufficient compensation capacity, leaving the victims in dire financial straits. Such cases are now addressed through judicial assistance channels.

However, the “judicial assistance” system is essentially a supplementary relief measure. It is heavily constrained by budgetary limitations and cannot cover the full losses of the parties involved.

In our practice, judicial assistance was typically capped at 30,000 yuan, meaning that regardless of the actual loss, the maximum assistance provided was 30,000 yuan.

For over a decade, most parties received assistance funds amounting to less than 10% of their actual losses.

In the case mentioned above, due to the enormous scale of his losses, the proportion of assistance funds he received was even smaller. I checked the records and found that in 2012, he was granted 30,000 yuan in assistance, which accounted for only 2% of his total losses.

Back then, in our small county alone, there were over 50 people in similar situations.

Social Assistance

Due to the car accident, this individual lost his ability to work. After receiving judicial assistance, he had to rely on social assistance, primarily the state’s subsistence allowance policy.

However, since his household registration was not in our area, he could only apply for the subsistence allowance in his rural hometown, where the level of support was relatively low.

Medical Care Under Subsistence Allowance

The current problem does not involve his own medical treatment.

If it were his own medical issue, we could typically coordinate local medical resources to provide help.

First, individuals under the subsistence allowance are directly provided with free medical insurance by the state, allowing them to enjoy the same medical security as other residents without paying insurance premiums.

Second, the reimbursement rate for medical treatments for those under the subsistence allowance is significantly higher than for ordinary residents, meaning the out-of-pocket expenses are very low.

Third, for any out-of-pocket expenses remaining after medical insurance reimbursement, the medical security department has a medical assistance fund to further reduce most of these costs.

Under these circumstances, if it were his own treatment, he would hardly need to spend much money.

However, his father is also a subsistence allowance recipient, so the situation should be similar.

The complication arises because his father’s illness is quite severe. If treated under the subsistence allowance system, hospitals often only provide conservative treatment and are reluctant to perform surgeries, which are expensive and consume a large portion of the hospital’s medical insurance funds. Both the insurance funds and the hospital are affected by this.

For example, according to the individual, after his father was examined at a top-tier hospital in western China, the doctor proposed a treatment plan requiring approximately 200,000 yuan in out-of-pocket expenses. Including the portion covered by medical insurance, the total treatment cost could be as high as 500,000 yuan. If fully covered by medical insurance funds, this would equate to the annual medical insurance contributions of over 1,000 ordinary residents.

This is where the problem lies.

Cross-Region Medical Treatment

The individual insisted on having his father treated at this top-tier hospital in western China and was unwilling to seek treatment locally.

However, the current medical insurance policy hardly supports cross-region medical treatment. At most, it can only reimburse the portion that complies with policy guidelines. This means that if his father goes to the hospital in western China, the 200,000 yuan in out-of-pocket expenses would essentially remain unresolved.

The individual persistently sought help from us, hoping the government or the court would provide him with 200,000 yuan in cash.

We asked the court to reinvestigate the defendant in this case and found that the defendant was also irresponsible. After the accident, he had never held a job. Two years ago, he was sentenced to three years in prison for intentionally damaging others’ property and is currently serving his sentence, making it impossible for him to come up with 200,000 yuan.

As a result, we had to convene multiple departments to pool resources bit by bit. The court applied to higher authorities for additional judicial assistance funds. Charitable associations under civil affairs, disability federations, elderly associations, and other organizations were approached to provide more assistance. Social work departments, medical security agencies, and the local township government also contributed. However, even after exhausting all policy options, we could only raise less than 50,000 yuan.

Assistance for Veterans

During the fundraising process, the individual incidentally mentioned that his father was a veteran who had served in the 1960s.

We then contacted the veterans affairs department and discovered that they also have assistance policies.

However, this assistance is also provided after the fact. For veterans who incur medical expenses, after deducting portions covered by basic medical insurance, critical illness insurance, medical assistance, and charitable aid, the remaining out-of-pocket expenses are eligible for assistance. In Guangdong, where I am located, the assistance cap is 100,000 yuan.

Nevertheless, 100,000 yuan can solve a significant part of the problem. Combined with the previously raised 50,000 yuan, this would cover 75% of the expenses.

Final Solution

The crux of the issue for the individual’s father was “cross-region medical treatment.” If treated locally, the process would likely have been much simpler.

In the end, after extensive coordination, we consulted a top-tier hospital within the province and found that if the father were treated there using the same treatment plan proposed by the hospital in western China, the out-of-pocket expenses could be reduced to 120,000 yuan under the provincial subsistence allowance policy.

Ultimately, we successfully persuaded the individual to have his father treated at this hospital in Guangdong.

During the treatment process, with coordination from higher-level health departments and veterans affairs departments, the hospital waived the inpatient deposit for his father under the veterans assistance policy. All treatment costs were settled directly between the medical insurance, veterans affairs departments, and the hospital, requiring almost no additional payment from the individual.

As we approach Army Day (August 1), the individual’s father has successfully undergone surgery and been discharged. The problem that had troubled both the individual and us for nearly a month has finally been resolved satisfactorily.