Indeed, the National Transfer Account estimates of medical spending by age in China
show a dramatic change between the 1995 and 2009 period (Chen and Lee 2014; Chen,
Eggleston and Li 2012). In 1995, medical spending of the elderly was not much different
from that of the working-age population. By 2009, medical spending was substantially
higher for the elderly than for the middle-aged, similar to the pattern seen in high-income
countries.