Effects of China’s Rural Insurance Scheme on Objective Measures of Health

Slawa Rokicki and Katherine Donato

No 16-01, Economics Working Papers from Queen's Management School, Queen's University Belfast

Abstract: In 2003, the Chinese government established the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS) with the goal of improving health for the country’s 800 million mostly uninsured rural residents. Using new data on objective health measures, we analyzed the program’s effectiveness in improving health for enrollees. Using longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutritional Survey from 2000 to 2009 (12 080 observations across four waves), we analyzed the impact of the NCMS on objective measures of health such as blood pressure, HbA1c, and cholesterol, as well as use of preventive care. In order to overcome inherent selection bias where less healthy people are more likely to enroll in the voluntary health insurance scheme, we used intent-to-treat and instrumental variable analysis strategies, and offered evidence that these approaches can mitigate this bias. For every additional year of NCMS coverage, the probability of seeking preventive health care increased by 0.6 percentage points (95% CI 0.1-1.0). However, we did not find evidence that the NCMS resulted in consistent improvements in objective measures of health. Sub-group analysis suggested that lower-income communities benefited more from the program, implying that the program may have resulted in some lessening of the wealth-based disparity in health. The NCMS does not appear to significantly improve objective measures of health. This is consistent with evaluations of health insurance programs in other countries, but in contrast to some previously reported improvements in self-reported health resulting from the NCMS.

Keywords: China; Health insurance; Biomarkers; Objective health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I13 I15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2016-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-hea, nep-ias and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Effects of China's Rural Insurance Scheme on Objective Measures of Health (2016)
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