Exploring Chinese Elderly’s Trust in the Healthcare System: Empirical Evidence from a Population-Based Survey in China

Abstract

This research aims to investigate how much the Chinese elderly trust the healthcare system and the critical factors that influence their trust. We use data from the China Social Survey (CSS) collected by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in the year 2019 to examine how demographic factors, social-economic status, internet access, and perceptions of the healthcare system impact the Chinese elderly’s trust in the healthcare system. Our research finds male gender, high educational level, and having internet access are negatively related to the elderly’s trust in the healthcare system. Our research also reveals that the elderly’s trust in the healthcare system was significantly related to their subjective perception of their social–economic status, upward mobility, and perception of accessibility and affordability rather than other objective indicators such as income and financial protection. The results imply that the elderly have a pessimistic expectation of their subjective social status and future possibilities of upward mobility in their later life, which deepens their distrust of the health system. Additionally, the accessibility and affordability of the healthcare system have remained problematic among the Chinese elderly. The study provides important theoretical and practical implications to enhance the elderly’s trust in the healthcare system.