The follow-up investigation of the effect caused by the new rural Cooperative Medical System on the village residents’ medical expenses

Objective To understand the variation of farmers clinic and hospitalization cost change after enforcing the new-type rural Cooperative Medical System (CMS) through comparing the base-line investigation with the two follow-up investigations. To appraise the impact of the new-type rural CMS implementation on medical cost and offer the scientific basis for consummating the scheme of the new-type rural CMS further.Methods An investigation was carried out by asking residents in their homes. The multi-phase stratified cluster random sampling has been adopted to select 3 sample townships, 9 sample administrative villages and invest 70 families from each village. We have a lengthwise contrast research.Result The annual medical cost per capita raised from 212.62 Yuan in 2003 to 385.37 Yuan in 2005. The average velocity of increase reaches to 34.63%. The annual outpatient clinic expenses per capita is 183.53 Yuan and the annual expenses per capita in hospital is 201.84 Yuan,which is higher than before. The expenses variance in hospital is resulted from expenses increase in a section of more than 20000 Yuan mainly. The average expense in hospital every time has been raised mainly in hospital of medical institutions above county,but that of countryside and county hospitals has been descended a little. The average compensation expense in hospital every time is 813.59 Yuan in 2004. Considered with price hike and offsetting the growth of medical cost,the average compensation expense in hospital every time is 251.58 Yuan. The status in 2005 is the same as that of 2004.Conclusion The medical cost of farmers in Wuyuan county has been increased quickly. That of medical institutions above county can’t be controlled effectively. The compensation that the new-type rural CMS brought to farmers has been counteracted by the growth of medical cost. We should take many available measures to control it strictly.