Health Service Utilization and Expenditure of the Elderly in China

Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey, we employed counterfactual propensity score matching to examine the association between income and health service utilization and expenditure of the elderly in China. The results demonstrated that income did not differentiate whether the poor elderly in China visited a doctor when suffering an illness, but their expenditure on medical treatment was significantly associated with income. Subgroup analysis further indicated that the medical demands of female, older, and rural elderly were more likely to be reduced by their income compared with their counterparts.