Does health insurance lead to better health?
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| Title | Does health insurance lead to better health?
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| Author | Pan Jie, Lei Xiaoyan and Liu Guoen |
| Organization | West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University; National School of Development, Peking University; Guanghua School of Management, Peking University |
| Email | panjie.jay@gmail.com；xylei@ccer.pku.edu.cn；panjie.jay@gmail.com |
| Key Words | medical insurance; health; urban basic medical insurance; governmental subsidy |
| Abstract | Whether health insurance matters to health has been at the center of debates when expanding health insurance coverage in developed and developing countries. In 2007, the Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URBMI) program was piloted in China. Different government subsidies across cities and groups provide an opportunity to employ the IV estimation approach to identify the causal effects of health insurance on health. Results from the URBMI survey data show that URBMI beneficiaries experience statistically better health than the uninsured. Furthermore, the insurance health benefit appears to be stronger for groups with disadvantaged education and income than for their counterparts. In addition, the insured receive more and better inpatient care, without paying more for the services. |
| Serial Number | WP433 |
| Time | 2013-02-21 |
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