Gerard La Forgia, Aceso Global’s CTO, was cited in a Bloomberg Business article regarding China’s rural poor and the high cost of healthcare access in the country.

La Forgia, the lead author of Healthy China: Deepening Health Reform in China stated that the average cost of a hospital is 1.3 times the annual income of rural residents, compared to only 50% of the annual income of city residents. According to the article, nearly 60% of senior citizens in China live in rural areas marked by poverty and poor healthcare.

The Chinese government instituted a rural medical insurance scheme over a decade ago; in 2009 it introduced a pilot rural pension program. La Forgia points out that “On paper it looks great—90-some percent of the rural population is covered, and that is probably true.” However, both of these programs are limited and impose high out-of-pocket payments and copayments.

Read more: China’s Rural Poor Bear the Brunt of the Nation’s Aging Crisis