RESUMO
Objective To analyze the direct economic burden and average hospitalization cost of lung cancer in China from 2011 to 2015, to provide data support for the prevention and control of lung cancer and health insurance policies. Methods By using inpatient medical record home page dataset to estimate the total hospital expenses of lung cancer. Using the outpatient hospitalization cost ratio of cancer specialized hospitals to estimate the overall medical expenses of lung cancer. Based on the inpatient medical record home page dataset, and analyzed the average hospitalization cost of lung cancer. Results The total cost of lung cancer in China reached 24.31 billion yuan in 2015, accounting for about 0.6％ of the total health expenses; from 2011 to 2015, lung cancer medical costs have concentrated in the grade 3 general hospitals; people over 60 consumed the major medical costs of lung cancer and the proportion was still rising year by year; the average hospitalization cost of lung cancer was reduced in 2015; drug proportion in various hospitals declined steadily from 2011 to 2015; the average hospitalization cost was the highest in the 18 -40 age group. Conclusion The effect of health care reform was gradually revealed, and the increase of medical expenses was controlled within the tolerable range. Notably, we should accelerate the improvement of the price compensation mechanism, and at the same time, we should aim to improve the level of catastrophic health care for the elderly.