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Public Perceptions Of Private Health Care In Socialist China
Meng-Kin Lim,
Hui Yang,
Tuohong Zhang,
Wen Feng and
Zijun Zhou
We present the findings of a United Nations Development Programme–World Health Organization study commissioned by China’s Ministry of Health on use of public and private ambulatory care services in three Chinese provinces. We found much unmet medical need (16 percent), attributed mainly to the perceived high cost of care. Seventy-one percent had no health insurance (90 percent in rural and 51 percent in urban areas). For 33 percent, the last consultation was with a private practitioner. Widespread dissatisfaction with public providers (mainly high user fees and poor staff attitudes) is driving patients to seek cheaper but lower-quality care from poorly regulated private providers.
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D. Blumenthal and W. Hsiao
Privatization and Its Discontents -- The Evolving Chinese Health Care System
N. Engl. J. Med.,
September 15, 2005;
353(11):
1165 - 1170.
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