Studies from Nanjing Medical University Further Understanding of Health Planning and Management (Equity In Healthcare Financing Following the Introduction of the Unified Residents’ Health Insurance Scheme In China): Health and Medicine – Health Planning and Management

2022 APR 04 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Research findings on Health and Medicine - Health Planning and Management are discussed in a new report. According to news originating from Nanjing, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “This study sought to explore whether there are significant disparities in the financing of healthcare between urban and rural populations following the introduction in 2016 of the Urban and Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URRBMI) scheme in China. We used household survey data from Heilongjiang province to estimate separate concentration curves in the financing burden and the resultant Kakwani indices (KIs) for urban and rural populations.”

Financial supporters for this research include National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), China Medical Board, Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Nanjing Medical University, “This enabled the assessment of the progressivity (or otherwise) of this burden. The results show that in urban areas indirect taxes were proportional (KI = 0.0009, P = 0.8449), while indirect taxes in rural areas were progressive (KI = 0.0284, P = 0.0002). In both urban and rural areas, direct taxes were found to be progressive (urban: KI = 0.4628, P< 0.0001; rural: KI = 0.4087, P = 0.0064), while URRBMI was regressive (urban: KI = - 0.6236, P< 0.0001; rural: KI = - 0.4325, P< 0.0001). Out-of-pocket payments were proportional in urban areas (KI = - 0.0064, P = 0.7490); in contrast, they were regressive in rural areas (KI = - 0.1078, P = 0.0012). Overall, the burden of healthcare finance in urban China was found to be neither regressive nor progressive (KI = - 0.0142, P = 0. 1397), whereas in rural China it was found to be regressive (KI = - 0.1208, P< 0.0001). This result is driven by high reliance on regressive forms of funding, namely, fixed contributions to URRBMI, out-of-pocket costs and private health insurance. It is concluded that achieving equity in health financing in China will require strong measures to reduce the regressivity of financing, particularly for rural populations.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “This can be achieved through a shift towards means-adjusted URRBMI contributions, a greater reliance on tax-based financing and reducing the reliance on out-of-pocket payments and private health insurance.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Equity In Healthcare Financing Following the Introduction of the Unified Residents’ Health Insurance Scheme In China. Health Policy and Planning, 2022;37(2):209-217. Health Policy and Planning can be contacted at: Oxford Univ Press, Great Clarendon St, Oxford OX2 6DP, England. (Oxford University Press - http://www.oup.com/; Health Policy and Planning - heapol.oxfordjournals.org)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Mingsheng Chen, Nanjing Medical University, School of Health Policy and Management, 101 Longmian Ave, Nanjing 211166, People’s Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include Guoliang Zhou, Zhonghua Wang, Stephen Jan and Lei Si.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czab124. 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.

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