In 2003, the average annual income for China's 745 million rural populations was 2,622 yuan (328 U.S. dollars) while the average medical expenses were 2,236 yuan (280 U.S. dollars) according to the Ministry of Health in 2004.

A national health survey in 2003 revealed that about 73 percent of people in rural areas who should have sought medical treatment chose not to do so because of the fear of high cost.

"Once the ambulance siren wails, a pig is taken to the market; once a hospital bed is slept in, a year of farming goes down the drain; once a serious disease is contracted, 10 years of savings are whittled away," said a well-known Chinese countryside saying.

Thanks to the new cooperative scheme, 410 million farmers among 1,451 counties had joined the program, accounting for 50.7 percent of the country's total, said the government work report.

So far, China's central and local governments have invested over 18.9 billion yuan (2.4 billion U.S. dollars) into the medicare scheme.

A survey jointly conducted by Beijing University, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health released early this year found that more than 57 percent of rural families that joined the system had made claims by 2005.

Families were reimbursed 25.7 percent of their total medical expenses, with an average refund of 731 yuan (95 U.S. dollars) according to the survey that polled 19,195 rural families in 32 counties of 17 provinces.

It also showed that 90 percent of families who participated in the program are willing to stay in the system.

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