Participation equity of new rural Cooperative Medical System in Jiangxi province

Objective To evaluate the implementation effeciency of the new rural Cooperative Medical System(CMS) from the respect of participation equity for perfecting the scheme of CMS. Methods We made a complete survey to investigate the participation data of new rural CMS in 40 pilot counties of Jiangxi province.The concentration index(CI),slope index of inequity(SII)were adopted to evaluate the equity. Results From 2006-2008,the new rural CMS participation rate of the farmers increased from 84.95% to 92.89%;the participation rate of the five welfare guarantees increased from 96.25% to 99.80%;the participation rate of impoverished farmers increased from 86.63% to 98.71%.All the CI were close to 0.The participation rate of farmers with higher income was slightly higher than those of farmers with positive CI and SII.The absolute values of SII for the participation rate of the five welfare guarantees and the impoverished were decreased. Conclusion The participation equity of the new rural CMS is good but special attention should be paid to the participation rate of farmers with low income.