OBJECTIVES: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has become a major public health problem in China. Two sample cities, Qingdao, which has been providing out-patient service with CKD patients in non-dialysis phases, and Shenyang, which has not provided the service, are selected as samples to discuss the policy effect of out-patient medical insurance. METHODS: CKD patient data collected in medical insurance administrative agencies of two sample cities in 2009 and 2010 are analyzed through discriptive statistics and independent sample T-test.  RESULTS: