Wuhan University Reports Findings in Public Health (Preferences for private health insurance in China: A discrete choice experiment): Health and Medicine – Public Health

2022 OCT 03 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Health and Medicine - Public Health is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “There is limited evidence on the sustainability and optimal design of China’s private health insurance market, especially from the demand-side. With the increasing medical cost burden on both patients and the social security system, policy makers need data on potential clients’ demand for private health insurance.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Wuhan University, “A discrete choice experiment was conducted to explore potential clients’ preferences for a type of government-involved private supplementary health insurance, Huimin Insurance, in China. A mixed logit model was used to evaluated participants’ preferences for six attributes. Willingness to pay, subgroup analysis and interaction effects were estimated based on the initial model. Among the 947 participants, 883 (93.2%) were aged 18 to 59 years and 578 (61.0%) were female. Participants had a strong preference for government involvement, extensive benefit packages, high reimbursement ratio and compensation for pre-existing conditions. With respect to the attribute of deductible, participants were indifferent between the level of CNY15,000 and CNY18,000 but had strong and significant preference for the level of CNY15,000 than CNY20,000. The premium was significantly correlated with a decline in the utility of PHI. All attributes had a significant impact on participants’ preference for Huimin Insurance.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Providing a reference point for the development of private health insurance in China, our results inform the optimal design of PHI, especially Huimin Insurance’s products.”

For more information on this research see: Preferences for private health insurance in China: A discrete choice experiment. Frontiers in Public Health, 2022;10:985582. Frontiers in Public Health can be contacted at: Frontiers Media Sa, Avenue Du Tribunal Federal 34, Lausanne, Ch-1015, Switzerland.

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Jing Bai, Dong Fureng Institute of Economic and Social Development, Wuhan University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include Nuo Chen, Stephen Nicholas, Elizabeth Maitland, Jialong Tan and Jian Wang.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.985582. 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 Frontiers in Public Health can be contacted at: Frontiers Media Sa, Avenue Du Tribunal Federal 34, Lausanne, Ch-1015, Switzerland.

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