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Measures rolled out in the first half of this year by the demonstration zone for the integration of the Yangtze River Delta has helped improved the lives of millions, the executive committee of the zone announced at a news conference on Tuesday.

Established in November 2019, the demonstration zone includes Shanghai's Qingpu district, Wujiang district in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, and Jiashan county in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province.

According to Zhang Zhongwei, deputy director of the zone's executive committee, the 18 measures, which are geared toward promoting regional integration in areas such as urban planning, public services, environmental protection, capital flow and government coordination, have benefited 2.15 million residents in the zone.

Among those who have benefited is Yang Wei, who hails from Jiashan, Zhejiang province.

Because of the new measure related to public services, Yang was able to use her medical insurance to pay for her visit to the Qingpu branch of the Zhongshan Hospital in Shanghai.

Previously, people had to apply in advance to use their healthcare insurance for out-patient medical payments at hospitals that are outside of their own province.

"I thought I had to pay the bill out of my own pocket instead of through medical insurance, but when I got to the hospital, the doctor told me that they accept the new healthcare e-card," Yang said.

"I only needed to perform a few steps on my mobile phone to get a QR code of my healthcare card before paying for the bill," she added.

In addition to out-patient medical payments, the cross-provincial medical insurance included in-patient on May 28. The medical insurance e-card was rolled out on June 8.

Cao Junshan, deputy director of the Shanghai municipal medical insurance bureau, lauded the initiative.

"This marks a milestone in cross-provincial medical insurance settlement, and it greatly benefits the local residents who live in one city but require medical care in other cities within the zone," he said.

Other public services that have been made more convenient because of the new measures include real estate registration and taxation.

Zhang said that the committee is already working on 17 more measures which will be launched by the end of the year.