BEIJING, July 24 -- The number of Chinese covered by critical illness insurance has surpassed 700 million, and the insurance will be expanded to cover the whole population by the end of 2015, a senior health official said on Friday.

Liang Wannian, vice director of the medical reform office under the State Council, China's cabinet, said that the system should be integrated with the entire healthcare infrastructure by 2017.

When a patient's medical bills far exceed basic medical insurance, they will receive reimbursements from the critical illness insurance scheme.

As of April, critical illness insurance pilot programs have been set up in 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, 16 of which have all their residents covered by the insurance.

Liang said that the scheme's reimbursement ratio should reach at least 50 percent this year and increase gradually in future.

The official also urged tighter supervision over the system.

In 2014, the critical illness insurance program helped 1.15 million patients in China, with the total fund reserve for the program reaching 9.7 billion yuan (1.6 billion U.S. dollars).