OBJECTIVES: This study was to explore health cost of liver cancer inpatients with basic medical insurance scheme for employees（BMISE）based on data supplied by China Health Insurance Research Association （CHIRA）from 2010 to 2016. METHODS: Liver cancer inpatients with disease code ICD-10 (C22) with BMISE was extracted from CHIRA. The average hospitalization expenses of liver cancer inpatients were categorized as under ¥5,000, ¥5,000-¥10,000, ¥10,000-¥20,000, ¥20,000-¥30,000, ¥30,000-¥40,000, ¥40,000-¥50,000, ¥50,000-¥60,000, ¥60,000-¥80,000, ¥80,000-¥100,000 and above ¥100,000, analyzing proportion of inpatients, proportion of expenses, reimbursement rate and out-of-pocket payment for each expense range. RESULTS: The average hospitalization expenses of liver cancer inpatients were in a distinct left skewed distribution, the inpatients whose average hospitalization expenses are ¥10,000-¥20,000 account for the largest proportion (26.31%); the average hospitalization expenses less than ¥30,000 make up 79.36%. The least proportion of total expenses for inpatients whose average hospitalization expenses were less than ¥5,000 account for 2.36%; the inpatients whose average hospitalization expenses are ¥20,000-¥30,000 account for the largest proportion (18.91%); the inpatients whose average hospitalization expenses are ¥10,000-¥20,000 come next(17.94%); the inpatients whose average hospitalization expenses were less than ¥50,000 make up 67.87%. The largest reimbursement rate makes up 75.72% for ¥5,000-¥10,000; the least reimbursement rate makes up 65.89% for above ¥100,000; the reimbursement rate for the rest range account for about 71%. The minimum out-of-pocket payment for inpatients whose average hospitalization expenses were less than ¥5,000 is ¥851; The out-of-pocket payment for inpatients whose average hospitalization expenses were above ¥40,000 is more than ¥10,000; The maximum out-of-pocket payment for inpatients whose average hospitalization expenses were above ¥100,000 is ¥58,857. CONCLUSIONS:The out-of-pocket payment increases with the increase of the average hospitalization expenses, Our government should put emphasis on reducing out-of-pocket payment of inpatients who have high average hospitalization expenses, to efficiently decrease the huge medical expenses risk caused by critical illness.