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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Life-Course Epidemiology and Social Inequalities in Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1363764
This article is part of the Research Topic The Impact of Non-traditional Social Determinants on Health and Mental Health Disparities View all 11 articles

Medical Insurance Benefits and Health Inequality：Evidence from Rural China

Provisionally accepted
Xueyi Wang Xueyi Wang 1Cheng Qin Cheng Qin 2*
  • 1 School of Business, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
  • 2 Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Alleviating health inequality among different income groups has become a significant policy goal in China to promote common prosperity. Based on the data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) covering the period from 2013 to 2018, this study empirically examines the impact of Integrated Medical Insurance System (URRBMI) on the health and health inequality of elderly rural residents. The following conclusions are drawn: First, URRBMI have elevated the level of medical security, reduced the frailty index of rural residents, and improved the health status of rural residents. Second, China exhibits "pro-rich" health inequality, and URRBMI exacerbates health inequality among rural residents with different incomes. This result remains robust when replacing the frailty index with different health modules. Third, the analysis of influencing mechanisms indicates that the URRBMI exacerbate inequality in the utilization of medical services among rural residents, resulting in a phenomenon of "subsidizing the rich by the poor" and intensifying health inequality. Fourth, in terms of heterogeneity, URRBMI have significantly widened health inequality among the elderly and in regions with a higher proportion of multiple-tiered medical insurance schemes.

    Keywords: China, Integrated Medical Insurance System, Rural residents, health inequality, Health

    Received: 31 Dec 2023; Accepted: 29 Apr 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang and Qin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Cheng Qin, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China

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