New Findings from Sun Yat-Sen University in the Area of Health Insurance Reported (Social health insurance coverage and financial protection among…

Managed Care Weekly Digest

New Findings from Sun Yat-Sen University in the Area of Health Insurance Reported (Social health insurance coverage and financial protection among rural-to-urban internal migrants in China: evidence from a nationally representative ...)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Research findings on Health Insurance are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting out of Guangzhou, People's Republic of China, by NewsRx editors, research stated, "Migrants are a vulnerable population and could experience various challenges and barriers to accessing health insurance. Health insurance coverage protects migrants from financial loss related to illness and death."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Sun Yat-Sen University, "We assessed social health insurance (SHI) coverage and its financial protection effect among rural-to-urban internal migrants (IMs) in China. Data from the '2014 National Internal Migrant Dynamic Monitoring Survey' were used. We categorised 170 904 rural-to-urban IMs according to their SHI status, namely uninsured by SHI, insured by the rural SHI scheme (new rural cooperative medical scheme (NCMS)) or the urban SHI schemes (urban employee-based basic medical insurance (UEBMI)/urban resident-based basic medical insurance (URBMI)), and doubly insured (enrolled in both rural and urban schemes). Financial protection was defined as 'the percentage of out-of-pocket (OOP) payments for the latest inpatient service during the past 12 months in the total household expenditure'. The uninsured rate of SHI and the NCMS, UEBMI/URBMI and double insurance coverage in rural-to-urban IMs was 17.3% (95% CI 16.9% to 17.7%), 66.6% (66.0% to 67.1%), 22.6% (22.2% to 23.0%) and 5.5% (5.3% to 5.7%), respectively. On average, financial protection indicator among uninsured, only NCMS insured, only URBMI/UEBMI insured and doubly insured participants was 13.3%, 9.2%, 6.2% and 5.8%, respectively (p=0.004). After controlling for confounding factors and adjusting the protection effect of private health insurance, compared with no SHI, the UEBMI/URBMI, the NCMS and double insurance could reduce the average percentage share of OOP payments by 33.9% (95% CI 25.5% to 41.4%), 14.1% (6.6% to 20.9%) and 26.8% (11.0% to 39.7%), respectively. Although rural-to-urban IMs face barriers to accessing SHI schemes, our findings confirm the positive financial protection effect of SHI."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Improving availability and portability of health insurance would promote financial protection for IMs, and further facilitate achieving universal health coverage in China and other countries that face migration-related obstacles to achieve universal coverage."

For more information on this research see: Social health insurance coverage and financial protection among rural-to-urban internal migrants in China: evidence from a nationally representative cross-sectional study. Bmj Global Health, 2017;2(4):e000477 (see also Health Insurance).

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting W. Chen, Faculty of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include Q. Zhang, A.MN. Renzaho, F. Zhou, H. Zhang and L. Ling.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000477. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Keywords for this news article include: Guangzhou, Health Insurance, Medical Insurance, Investment and Finance, People's Republic of China.