Willingness to pay integrated medical and elderly care services among the elderly in Hohhot City / 预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To investigate the willingness to pay integrated medical and elderly care services and identify the influencing factors among the elderly in Hohhot City, Inner Mongolia, so as to provide insights into promoting integrated medical and elderly care services.@*Methods@#The elderly at ages of 60 years and older were sampled using a convenient sampling method from public venues in four districts of Huimin, Saihan, Yuquan and Xincheng in Hohhot City from June to December 2021. Basic characteristics, health and disease burdens, social support and willingness to pay integrated medical and elderly care services were collected, and factors affecting the willingness to pay integrated medical and elderly care services were identified among the elderly using a multiple linear regression model. @*Results@#A total of 1 008 valid questionnaires were recovered, with an effective recovery rate of 96.74%. The respondents included 519 men (51.49%) and 489 women (48.51%), and had a mean age of (69.47±6.42) years. The monthly average fees of willingness to pay integrated medical and elderly care services were (2 076.49±36.79) Yuan, and there were 636 participants with 2 000 Yuan and less monthly average fees of willingness to pay integrated medical and elderly care services (63.10%). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that place of residence (β=180.832), satisfaction with housing (satisfied, β=-140.760), physical self-care ability (completely self-care: β=-238.244; mostly self-care: β=-254.557), burdens of disease diagnosis and treatment (able to afford: β=452.488; partly afford: β=228.626), monthly income (β=347.144), expenses of medications (β=0.019) and total score of social support (β=17.116) were factors affecting the willingness to pay integrated medical and elderly care services among the elderly. @*Conclusions@#The willingness to pay integrated medical and elderly care services among the elderly in Hohhot City is associated with place of residence, monthly income, satisfaction with housing, physical self-care ability, burden of disease diagnosis and treatment, expenses of medications and social support.