AUTHOR=Wei Ning , Huang Wenhao , Zhou Lü-lin 

TITLE=Impact of Catastrophic Health Expenditures on Chinese Household Consumption

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.646494

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2021.646494

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=China has built a social medical insurance system that covers the entire population so as to reduce the impact of diseases on individuals and families. Although the decline in the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures (CHEs) in China is encouraging, this issue remains important. On the basis of considering selectivity bias and heterogeneity, we applied propensity score matching (PSM) to analyze the 2018 data of the Chinese Family Tracking Survey. We assigned CHE household and non-CHE household to the treatment group and the control group respectively, and used non-random data to simulate a randomized trial to investigate the impact of CHE on household consumption in China. The results of this study indicate that, when the threshold is set at 40%, the consumption of households experiencing CHEs (CHE household) is significantly lower than that of households not experiencing CHEs (non-CHE households) and that CHEs have a significant negative impact on other household consumption and a significant impact on household property and debt. This effect still exists when the threshold is set lower, with household essential consumption most affected. The occurrence of CHEs lead to a reduction in household consumption and a significantly worsening financial situation for CHE households, impacting the basic quality of life of the families. Therefore, it is necessary to further reform the medical and health system to reduce high medical expenses.