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Government health expenditure, out‐of‐pocket payment and social inequality: A cross‐national analysis of China and OECD countries

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  • Dunfu Zhang
  • K. M. Atikur Rahman

Abstract

This study aims to assess the association between Chinese out‐of‐pocket payments and government health spending, investigating their variation ratio in the context of OECD countries. Aggregated time‐series data of 37 countries (from China and official OECD members) were collected from the World Bank Open Data source and analyzed using the multiple linear regression models. Benchmarking approach was applied to evaluate the causes of healthcare expenditure rise per capita. The results showed that China's government health expenditure was positively associated with out‐of‐pocket payment rise, with a higher variation score of 42.70%. The association was statistically significant at 5%. Likewise, the association between government expenditure and out‐of‐pocket payment in the OECD countries was positively significant at 1%, and their variation score was 2.41%. Health financing in OECD countries showed higher stability and equity than that in China. Policy implications for China is to reduce the distributional disparity of government health funds by tax adjustments in health services, universal health coverage, the removal of social health insurance disparities, and a single health payment method.

Suggested Citation

  • Dunfu Zhang & K. M. Atikur Rahman, 2020. "Government health expenditure, out‐of‐pocket payment and social inequality: A cross‐national analysis of China and OECD countries," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5), pages 1111-1126, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijhplm:v:35:y:2020:i:5:p:1111-1126
    DOI: 10.1002/hpm.3017
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Kejia Chu & Ning Zhang & Zhongfei Chen, 2015. "The Efficiency and Its Determinants for China’s Medical Care System: Some Policy Implications for Northeast Asia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-20, October.
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    Cited by:

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    3. Si Shi & Yawen Jiang, 2022. "Does supplemental private health insurance incentivize household risky financial asset investment? Evidence from the China Household Financial Survey," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 369-421, December.

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