The New Cooperative Medical Scheme in rural China: does more coverage mean more service and better health?

Xiaoyan Lei and Wanchuan Lin

Health Economics, 2009, vol. 18, issue S2, S25-S46

Abstract: This paper explores the impact of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS), a newly adopted public health insurance program in rural China. Using a longitudinal sample drawn from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), we employed multiple estimation strategies (individual fixed‐effect models, instrumental variable estimation, and difference‐in‐differences estimation with propensity score matching) to correct the potential selection bias. We find that participating in the NCMS significantly decreases the use of traditional Chinese folk doctors and increases the utilization of preventive care, particularly general physical examinations. However, we do not find that the NCMS decreases out‐of‐pocket expenditure nor do we find that it increases utilization of formal medical service or improves health status, as measured by self‐reported health status and by sickness or injury in the past four weeks. Our study indicates that despite the wide expansion of coverage, the impact of the NCMS is still limited. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (155)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.1501

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:18:y:2009:i:s2:p:s25-s46

Access Statistics for this article

Health Economics is currently edited by Alan Maynard, John Hutton and Andrew Jones

More articles in Health Economics from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().