The new Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (RCMS) was introduced in China to address the longstanding difficulties that rural Chinese experience in accessing appropriate health care. Little is known, however, about the responses to the Scheme by the residents of rural areas, particularly older people. This absence of knowledge and understanding is especially acute in relation to Chinas sizeable ethnic minorities who tend to live in the poorest and more remote parts of rural China. Accordingly, this exploratory study investigated the experiences of the new RCMS by elderly Miao people in a rural...