Researchers from Hunan University Report Details of New Studies and Findings in the Area of Economic Analysis and Policy (Social Medical Insurance Integration and Health Care Disparities In China: Evidence From an Administrative Claim Dataset): Economics – Economic Analysis and Policy

2023 AUG 31 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on Economics - Economic Analysis and Policy. According to news reporting originating from Changsha, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “Health care disparities continue to coexist with universal health coverage in China due to the fragmentation of social medical insurance. In this study, a pilot city located in Southeast China that integrated employee and resident medical insurance programs in 2017 is used to evaluate the impacts of employee-resident medical insurance integration on health care disparities in hospital utilization and expenditure.”

Financial support for this research came from Key Project of National Social Science Fund of China.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Hunan University, “We use a unique administrative insurance claim dataset from 2015 to 2017 and adopt the propensity score matching and difference-in-differences (PSM-DID) regression approach. The results show that in general, employees utilize more inpatient services and receive more reimbursement than residents. However, after the policy change, the medical insurance benefits for residents greatly improved. Thus, they significantly increased their frequency of inpatient utilization and used more services per admission, which increased total inpatient expenditure and reimbursement by 10.65% and 9.94%, respectively. However, the corresponding figures for employees remained at their historical levels, thus reducing the health care disparities between these two groups.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “These findings provide empirical evidence to support the integration of the social medical insurance system in China and can serve as a reference for governments in low-and middle-income countries seeking to improve equality in their medical security systems.& COPY; 2023 Economic Society of Australia, Queensland. .”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Social Medical Insurance Integration and Health Care Disparities In China: Evidence From an Administrative Claim Dataset. Economic Analysis and Policy, 2023;79:20-39. Economic Analysis and Policy can be contacted at: Elsevier, Radarweg 29, 1043 Nx Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Wen He, Hunan University, School of Public Administration, Lushan Rd S, Changsha 410082, People’s Republic of China.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eap.2023.05.023. 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.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)