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The Impacts of China's Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance on Healthcare Expenditures and Health Outcomes

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  • Feng Huang
  • Li Gan`

Abstract

At the end of 1998, China launched a government‐run mandatory insurance program, the urban employee basic medical insurance (UEBMI), to replace the previous medical insurance system. Using the UEBMI reform in China as a natural experiment, this study identifies variations in patient cost sharing that were imposed by the UEBMI reform and examines their effects on the demand for healthcare services. Using data from the 1991–2006 waves of the China Health and Nutrition Survey, we find that increased cost sharing is associated with decreased outpatient medical care utilization and expenditures but not with decreased inpatient care utilization and expenditures. Patients from low‐income and middle‐income households or with less severe medical conditions are more sensitive to prices. We observe little impact on patient's health, as measured by self‐reported health status. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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  • Feng Huang & Li Gan`, 2017. "The Impacts of China's Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance on Healthcare Expenditures and Health Outcomes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 149-163, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:26:y:2017:i:2:p:149-163
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.3281
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    2. Xie, Yuantao & Yu, Haichun & Lei, Xin & Lin, Arthur Jin, 2020. "The impact of fertility policy on the actuarial balance of China’s urban employee basic medical insurance fund–The selective two-child policy vs. the universal two-child policy," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    3. Wen He, 2022. "Effects of establishing a financing scheme for outpatient care on inpatient services: empirical evidence from a quasi-experiment in China," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(1), pages 7-22, February.
    4. Zhang, Xuan & Nie, Huihua, 2021. "Public health insurance and pharmaceutical innovation: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    5. Ta, Yuqi & Zhu, Yishan & Fu, Hongqiao, 2020. "Trends in access to health services, financial protection and satisfaction between 2010 and 2016: Has China achieved the goals of its health system reform?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    6. Feng, Jin & Song, Hong & Wang, Zhen, 2020. "The elderly's response to a patient cost-sharing policy in health insurance: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 189-207.
    7. Karinna Saxby & Joshua Byrnes & Sonja C. de New & Son Nghiem & Dennis Petrie, 2023. "Does affirmative action reduce disparities in healthcare use by Indigenous peoples? Evidence from Australia's Indigenous Practice Incentives Program," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(4), pages 853-872, April.
    8. Wei Si, 2021. "Public health insurance and the labor market: Evidence from China's Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 403-431, February.
    9. Chen, Yi & Shi, Julie & Zhuang, Castiel Chen, 2019. "Income-dependent impacts of health insurance on medical expenditures: Theory and evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 290-310.
    10. Shen, Menghan & He, Wen & Li, Linyan, 2020. "Incentives to use primary care and their impact on healthcare utilization: Evidence using a public health insurance dataset in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    11. He, Hui & Huang, Feng & Liu, Zheng & Zhu, Dongming, 2018. "Breaking the “iron rice bowl:” Evidence of precautionary savings from the chinese state-owned enterprises reform," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 94-113.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private

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