The effect of China’s new cooperative medical scheme on health expenditures among the rural elderly

Background The alarming progression of an increasingly aging population in China has attracted much attention within the country and abroad. In 2003, the Chinese central government launched the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS) to resolve problems of healthcare inequity in regions with inadequate infrastructure and relative poverty. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of NCMS on health expenditures by the Chinese rural elderly population.