Geographic variation in health insurance benefit in Qianjiang District, China

Abstract

Background : Health insurance coverage is of great importance; yet, it is unclear whether there is some geographic variation in health insurance benefit for urban and rural patients covered by a same basic health insurance, especially in China. Objective : To identify the potential geographic variation in health insurance benefit and its possible socioeconomic and geographical factors at the town level. Methods : All the beneficiaries underthe health insurance who had the in-hospital experience in 2013 were contained in this study. Theil index for the insurance compensation amount and number were calculated, respectively, and spatial interpolation analysis was used to describe the geographic variation. And then, the multiple linear regression analysis was used to assesse the association between the Theil index value of the health insurance benefit and the habit of health seeking, the ability of healthcare services supply, geographic accessibility as well as the economic status. Results : Different areas at the town level had different Theil index values (from -0.4709 to 0.4960 for compensation amount, from -0.5693 to 0.6538 for compensation number), and there was great geographic variation in health insurance benefit. What’s more, geographic accessibility and the economic status had an association with the geographic variation in health insurance benefit (p Conclusion : The results suggest that the health insurance compensation has regional characteristics. The higher net income of residents have, the more conducive the regional medical insurance patients benefit; the less convenient of geographical traffic is, the less conducive the regional medical insurance compensation benefit.