ABSTRACT
Objective To measure the financial burden incurred by hypertension to urban patients in Beijing, Nanjing and Hangzhou cities. Methods Two communities were sampled from the three cities randomly, and 300 hypertension patients were sampled randomly from hypertension control files in each community for questionnaire survey. Results Health expenditure of the families with hypertension patients accounts for 14. 4% of the family's income, and 18. 2% of the family's expenditure, a ratio far beyond the national average (10.6 %). However, the majority of them report the burden as affordable.The basic medical insurance for urban residents helps alleviate the financial burden of hypertension patients and the extent of such burden has a close bearing on the outcome of hypertension treatment and prevention. Conclusion Effective community-based blood-pressure monitoring and control system is key to reducing the financial burden of hypertension. The reimbursement policy for hypertensive patients within the basic medical insurance is expected to be further improved.