Abstract:hough a new cooperative medical system has been established in China,there are still uncertainties concerning whether it is obligatory for the peasants to join the system or they may do it on their own will,whether the system will be run independently or together with the urban system,whether it will be managed by the government or peasants themselves,and whether it will be public or private. This paper employs two typical representatives of the East Asian model of social securityJapan and South Korea as the research object.It summarizes the East Asian experience on medical insurance for farmers through the embedded theory of Neoinstitutionalism.It is found that economic,social,government expenditure,choice of system and other external relevant factors affect the establishment and the process of overall coverage of medical insurance for farmers.Moreover,organization and operation,regulatory agencies,medical services supplies and other internal factors also affect the performance of the system.On this basis,some suggestions have been offered to the medical insurance system in China.