Catastrophic health expenditure in households with chronic disease patients: A pre-post comparison of the New Health Care Reform in Shaanxi Province China

摘要

IntroductionIn 2009, China officially launched the New Health Care Reform (NHCR). One important purpose of the reform was to reduce financial burden of health care through health insurance expansion and health care provider regulations. This study aimed to provide evidence on the effect of the NHCR reform on catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) by comparing the occurrence and inequality of CHE among households with chronic diseases patients before and after the reform.