Peking University Reports Findings in Healthcare Economics (Does the universal medical insurance system reduce catastrophic health expenditure among middle-aged and elderly households in China? A longitudinal analysis)

2021 FEB 25 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Economics - Healthcare Economics is the subject of a report. According to news reporting out of Beijing, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “The Chinese government has made great progress in establishing the universal medical insurance system. This study aimed to analyze whether the universal medical insurance system protected middle-aged and elderly households from catastrophic health expenditure (CHE).”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Peking University, “The data were obtained from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. We used household as our unit of analysis and CHE was measured as out-of-pocket expenditures 40% of nonfood household expenditures. Univariate analysis was deployed to examine the impacts of different medical insurance schemes on CHE, and the factors associated with CHE were estimated using a random-effects logit regression model. We identified 10,005, 10,370, and 11,567 households in 2011, 2013, and 2015, respectively, and found 12.9% (2011), 26.6% (2013) and 27.9% (2015) of the households experienced CHE. When compared with no insurance, households enrolled in New Rural Cooperative Medical Insurance Scheme (P = 0.023) were associated with a lower incidence of CHE, but other insurance schemes were not significant. Households with members older than 65 years (P < 0.001), members with chronic diseases (P < 0.001), members with poor self-reported health conditions (P < 0.001), and members receiving health care (P < 0.001) had a higher risk of CHE. Large household size (P < 0.001) and high household income per capita (P < 0.001) were major protective factors to CHE incidence. Despite China’s great stride in the medical insurance coverage, it fell short to provide financial protection against medical expenditure burden.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “To reduce the risk of CHE, an integrated poverty and elderly-oriented medical insurance system could be put in place to address these problems.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Does the universal medical insurance system reduce catastrophic health expenditure among middle-aged and elderly households in China? A longitudinal analysis. The European Journal of Health Economics, 2021. The European Journal of Health Economics can be contacted at: Springer, One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, Ny, United States.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Haishaerjiang Wushouer, Dept. of Pharmacy Administration and Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include Yue Zhou, Daniel Vuillermin, Xiaodong Guan and Luwen Shi.

Publisher contact information for the The European Journal of Health Economics is: Springer, One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, Ny, United States.

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