Health status and burden of health care costs among urban elderly in China

Abstract

This study evaluates health status among elderly residents in urban China and medical insurance schemes for them. A total of 931 urban elderly individuals aged 60 years or above in 3 cities were interviewed. The survey gathered data on individual sociodemographic characteristics, self-reported health status, chronic disease diagnoses, use of and expenditure related to health care services, satisfaction with medical insurance, and so on. The prevalence of chronic disease was 79.1% among the respondents, and medical expenditure on chronic disease per patient was 4656 Yuan in half a year. Over the 2 earlier weeks, 27.4% of respondents had felt sick, and 63.5% of them had had outpatient visits; 29.5% of respondents had been hospitalized in the past year. Among different groups, the inpatient reimbursement rate ranged from 45.5% to 81.2%, and the outpatient reimbursement rate was between 4.1% and 100%. The health care demand had not been met for many elderly individuals because of the lack of general outpatient coverage in the basic medical insurance scheme.

Keywords: aging; chronic diseases; health care demand; medical security.