Determinants of Medical Insurance Participation in Rural China

While China experienced rapid economic growth in the past decade, development of health care has lagged in comparison. After the collapse of the previous insurance system in the late 1970s, continuing healthcare reforms have been implemented to promote healthcare access, especially for rural households. Although research has been done to assess the outcomes of the health care reforms in China, limited studies have been done to analyze the decision-making behavior of rural households. This study investigates the impact of healthcare access on insurance participation rate in rural China. The data for this study was extracted from the China Nutrition and Health survey, a longitudinal dataset collected by the Carolina Population Center at UNC. Probit regressions were utilized to estimate the effects of healthcare access factors on insurance participation rate. The estimation results indicated that travelling time and waiting time to receive healthcare negatively impact the probability of having medical insurance. On the other hand, cost of travelling, cost of common cold treatment and the availability of necessary medicines increase the probability of having medical insurance. Among the control variables, presence of chronic illness, higher education level and employment in labor-intensive occupation contribute most significantly and positively to having medical insurance. Thus the specified decision-driving factors of this study are found to be consistent with previous research in health-seeking behavior. The result of this research suggests that additional services to improve access can further improve health insurance and healthcare utilization in rural China.Bachelor of Art