Southwestern University of Finance and Economics Reports Findings in Science (Did the Integrated Urban and Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance Improve Benefit Equity in China?): Science

2022 MAY 19 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Science is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating in Chengdu, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “The reform of merging 2 major health insurance schemes into Urban and Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URRBMI) is recognized as a vital step to safeguard equal healthcare and benefit to each enrollee in China. Against this backdrop, this article aims to evaluate the impact of URRBMI integration on benefit and its contribution to benefit equity.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, “The data of this study were derived from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2011 and 2015. A total of 11 383 individuals were included in the final sample. Coarsened exact matching with difference-in-difference approach was firstly adopted to investigate the treatment effects of URRBMI on benefits. Next, the decomposition of concentration index (CI) was conducted to explore the contribution of URRBMI to benefit equity. The coarsened exact matching with difference-in-difference results revealed that the consolidation of URRBMI has significantly improved outpatient benefit. The decomposition results showed that the contribution rates of URRBMI scheme to outpatient benefit rate (CI -0.0114), benefit probability (CI 0.0673), compensation fee (CI 0.0076), and reimbursement ratio (CI 0.0483) were 11.26%, -3.38%, -7.67%, and -0.81%, suggesting that this reform makes contribution to the propoor inequity in the outpatient benefit rate and relieves the prorich inequity in outpatient benefit probability and the degree of benefits. The findings of this study provide novel evidence of enhanced benefits and benefit equity for outpatient care with the integration of URRBMI.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Further efforts should be made to the expansion of URRBMI coverage and the elimination of income disparities that affecting benefit equity.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Did the Integrated Urban and Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance Improve Benefit Equity in China? Value in Health, 2022. Value in Health can be contacted at: Elsevier Science Inc, Ste 800, 230 Park Ave, New York, NY 10169, USA. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Value in Health - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/value-in-health/)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Yangling Ren, School of Public Administration, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include Zhongliang Zhou, Dan Cao, Bernice Hua Ma, Chi Shen, Sha Lai and Gang Chen.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jval.2022.03.007. 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.

The publisher of the journal Value in Health can be contacted at: Elsevier Science Inc, Ste 800, 230 Park Ave, New York, NY 10169, USA.

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