Equity on healthcare service utilization of China’s Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance / 中国卫生政策研究

ABSTRACT

As an income redistribution mechanism, the design of Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance ( URBMI) should reflect the inclination to take care of vulnerable populations, such as people with chronic diseases and low incomes. Therefore, whether the healthcare services of vulnerable populations have been improved, is the most important indicator to determine the effectiveness of the URBMI. Using the DID model, this paper analyzes healthcare service utilization of invulnerable and vulnerable populations before and after the establishment of URBMI ( including both outpatient and inpatient) , based on the idea that these two populations have different socio-economic and health status. Then, based on the gap between the healthcare service utilization changes of different groups, we can measure the equity in URBMI. The results show that the establishment and implementation of URBMI has indeed narrowed the gap of invulnerable and vulnerable populations with different socio-economic and health status; health-care service utilization of vulnerable populations has increased significantly, and health status has significantly im-proved. From vertical and horizontal perspectives, the results prove that the establishment of URBMI has improved the equity of healthcare service utilization among different populations across China.