In recent years, as the level of medical insurance reimbursement has continued to rise and the range of drugs covered by the medical insurance catalog has gradually expanded, insured persons can purchase and use medicines more conveniently—at hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, and even online—while enjoying medical insurance reimbursement. However, these policies have also given rise to ulterior motives among some lawbreakers: many drug peddlers induce insured persons to participate in drug buying and selling through "high-price buybacks." This disguised form of buying back drugs that insured persons purchased after receiving medical insurance reimbursement and reselling them is what is known as medical insurance "reflow drugs." The National Healthcare Security Administration recently warned that people should not, out of greed for small gains, become accomplices of drug peddlers and cause irreparable losses to themselves and others.

In other words, so-called "reflow drugs" refer to the following: a person uses another person's medical insurance credentials, or an insured person uses medical insurance reimbursement to purchase drugs from designated medical institutions, then sells them at a markup over the amount the individual actually paid to a drug buyer; the drug buyer sells them to medical institutions, clinics, and the like, which in turn sell them to patients. For example, an insured person pays 10 yuan out of pocket and obtains drugs with a total price of more than 100 yuan; with the help of a drug peddler, even if the drugs are sold for only 50 yuan, the two can still make 40 yuan from the transaction.

It can thus be seen that insured persons participating in the resale of "reflow drugs" is fraud against medical insurance, causing the medical security fund that should be used to save lives to be eroded by lawbreakers. The medical insurance fund is the people's "life-saving money," and safeguarding the security of the medical insurance fund bears on the vital interests of the people and on the fairness and sustainability of the medical security system. If some insured persons overprescribe or falsely prescribe drugs over the long term, this not only creates a large amount of unjustified funding gaps in the medical insurance fund but also causes serious waste of medical resources.

In addition to eroding the medical insurance fund, reselling "reflow drugs" also endangers medication safety. Not to mention that "reflow drugs" are removed from the necessary temperature and humidity conditions for drug storage, making drug quality difficult to guarantee, the National Healthcare Security Administration recently disclosed that some drug peddlers put counterfeit drugs into medicine boxes and sell them to pharmacies, passing off fakes as genuine; because drug expiration dates are not printed directly on the pills, some drug peddlers take near-expiry or expired drugs out of their original packaging and put them into new boxes, mislabeling them; and still other drug peddlers, in the process of dismantling and repackaging "reflow drugs," often confuse dosage specifications and drug types...

For precisely this reason, relevant departments have been committed to strictly cracking down on the resale of "reflow drugs." In February this year, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Handling of Criminal Cases of Medical Insurance Fraud, which clearly provide that anyone who, knowing that drugs were purchased through medical insurance fraud, illegally purchases or sells them shall be convicted and punished for the crime of concealing or disguising criminal proceeds; anyone who instructs, abets, or induces others to use medical insurance fraud to purchase drugs and then illegally purchases or sells them shall be convicted and punished for the crime of fraud.

One of the most critical priorities in severely cracking down on the resale of "reflow drugs" is to build a solid line of defense among insured persons. On the one hand, it is necessary to strengthen publicity and education on relevant laws, regulations, and documents for the broad masses of insured persons. For example, under the Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of the Use of the Medical Security Fund, if an individual, for the purpose of defrauding the medical insurance fund, takes advantage of medical insurance benefits to resell drugs, accepts returned cash or goods, or obtains other illegal benefits, causing losses to the medical insurance fund, his or her online settlement of medical expenses shall be suspended for 3 to 12 months, and a fine of not less than 2 times but not more than 5 times the amount defrauded shall be imposed. If the amount involved is relatively large and the circumstances are serious, it may also constitute the crime of fraud. All of this needs to be widely publicized to enhance insured persons' awareness of the rule of law. On the other hand, it is necessary to inform the broad masses of insured persons that reselling "reflow drugs" for small gains may turn good medicine into "poison": at best it delays treatment, and at worst it costs lives; moreover, over time, everyone's medication safety may be difficult to guarantee, and the whole of society will pay the price. It is necessary to raise public awareness of and vigilance against the resale of "reflow drugs." Insured persons should refrain from fraudulent medical treatment and drug purchases, should not act as accomplices of drug peddlers, and should not purchase drugs of unknown origin or with damaged packaging, thereby fostering a sound atmosphere in which the whole of society jointly resists "reflow drugs."