Does Social Medical Insurance Achieve a Poverty Reduction Effect in China?

Ji-Le Sun,Lei Wang,Li-Min Jin,Ran Tao

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.800852

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the impact of social medical insurance (SMI) on poverty reduction (PR) in China. Considering the time-varying characteristics of factors, this paper uses the bootstrap Granger full sample causality and subsample rolling window model to find the relationship between SMI and PR. The results highlight that in some periods, there is a bidirectional causal link between SMI and PR. Influenced by the medical insurance reform and medication measures. Social medical insurance does not have a positive impact on poverty reduction in some periods. These results are supported by the Utility Maximization Model of Insurance Consumption, which highlights that individuals make utility maximization choices when choosing insurance. The effect of medical insurance on poverty alleviation depends on whether an individual's investment in medical insurance can maximize its utility. If the proportion of social medical insurance reimbursement is too low, individuals will give up buying social medical insurance. Thus, the anti-poverty effect of social medical insurance is difficult to achieve. Therefore, authorities need to pay attention to specific contexts and social medical insurance policies and further improve the social medical insurance system to promote the realization of the anti-poverty of social medical insurance.

Highlights

This paper aims to analyze the causality between social medical insurance (SMI) and poverty reduction (PR)
In October 2018, the State Medical Insurance Administration issued a notice on the inclusion of 17 anticancer drugs in the National Basic Medical Insurance, Industrial Injury Insurance and Maternity Insurance drug Catalog categories
In December 2018, the State Medical Insurance Administration issued a notice on the National Pilot Program of Payment by Diagnosis-related Groups (DRGs), proposing to accelerate the national pilot program of payment by DRGs and explore the establishment of a DRG payment system

Summary

Introduction

This paper aims to analyze the causality between social medical insurance (SMI) and poverty reduction (PR). Low-income people usually lack basic health care and have poor health outcomes [2], which in turn lead to disease. Huge medical expenses caused by diseases that are usually defined as “catastrophic” consequentially drive families into poverty [3]. Disease has become one of the leading causes of household impoverishment in China [4]. By subsidizing many of the costs associated with medical care, medical insurance can provide important financial benefits to low-income families and Health Insurance and Poverty Reduction alleviate poverty caused by disease [9]. To address uncertainty in health care, China begins to establish universal medical insurance coverage [5]. In 2007, the benefit package of NRCMS was extended to outpatient care, and an urban residents medical insurance system (URMIS) was established. This paper aims to determine whether social medical insurance has a positive impact on the alleviation of poverty

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Methods

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Conclusion