Do Different Health Insurance Plans in China Create Disparities in Health Utilization and Expenditures?
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Introduction: China has achieved significant economic growth since the Reform and Opening Policy in 1978. The annual GDP growth rate on average had been more than 10% for the past 20 years. In 2010 China had been the second largest economy in the world with a GDP of US $5.8 trillion after the United States. However, China’s health care system did not match this rapid economic development during the same period. It is hard to receive health care services. The health care is relatively expensive. To bridge this gap, China has substantially reformed its health care system in recent years. The ultimate goal is to provide universal coverage for basic health care to every Chinese citizen. Three major health insurance plans have recently been created to achieve this objective. Rural newly cooperative medical scheme. Urban employee-based health insurance. Urban resident health insurance. By the end of 2009, these three major health insurance plans covered approximately 90 percent of the Chinese population (1.2 billion Chinese citizens). The three major health insurance plans differ substantially in terms of insurers, the insured population, premiums, and benefits offered. One concern is that individuals under the different health insurance plans may vary their health seeking behaviors. The present study is trying to investigate whether three different health insurance plans create disparities in terms of health care utilization and expenditures.
CONF
Presentation for Shorenstein APARC Seminar
Fang, Hai
Meng, Qingyue
Rizzo, John A.
2012
Stanford University
Stanford, California
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