title: 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.
authors: Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors: Haiying
authors: H
authors: Teng
authors: Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors: Zhizhong
authors: Z
authors: Cao
authors: No. 254 Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Tianjin, China.
authors: Junlan
authors: J
authors: Liu
authors: Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors: Pei
authors: P
authors: Liu
authors: Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Hua
authors: Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors: Yue
authors: Y
authors: Yang
authors: Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China xionglinping@aliyun.com.
authors: Linping
authors: L
authors: Xiong
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006296:Health Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population
keywords: aging; chronic diseases; health care demand; medical security