Impact of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme on Health Care Service Utilization in Rural China

Using the 2000, 2004, and 2006 CHNS longitudinal survey data and econometric methods （random-effect probit regression model and DID methods）, this study conducted an empirical analysis to estimate the impact of NCMS. The major conclusions are as follows. First, predisposing factors, enabling factors, health care need factors, and lifestyle factors affect health care utilization. Second, results using DID methods indicate that NCMS did not affect health care service utilization （outpatient and inpatient） of individuals when ill, but it might increase the possibility of getting a health examination. Third, there is no difference in health care service utilization （both outpatient and inpatient） between the NCMS enrollment group and the non-enrollment group in both working age group （15-59） and the elderly group （60 and over）. Therefore, it can be said that NCMS did not affect the health care utilization in both the group. However, NCMS positively affects disease prevention behavior （visiting the hospital to receive a health examination） in the working age group, but the effect did not appear in the elderly group.

40 Years of Rural Cooperative Medical Service

Our story dates from 40 years ago, on August 10, 1966, when China＇s first institution of rural medical service was inaugurated at a county called Changyang, Hubei Province, Central China, where people of Tujia, an ethnic minority group, live in compact communities. It was actually a clinic at a Dujia Village in the county, which charged itself with the task of making primary or basic medical care available and affordable-- to all the villagers. China has undergone tremendous changes since then, and now its economy becoming increasingly market-oriented. Despite that, rural cooperative medical service has kept expanding at Changyang though having experienced twists and turns over the past four decades. The county has been chosen by the central authorities to try out a new type of rural medical service, which in many ways is different from the old pioneered by Dujia in Changyang County.

The impact of the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme on the“health poverty alleviation”of rural households in China

This study investigates the impact of the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme(NRCMS)on rural households to escape poverty.We employ the instrumental variable method,the IVProbit model,to analyze the national data from the rural-resident field survey by the China Family Panel Studies(CFPS)in 2016.Based on the large-scale data,we found that,first,the hospitalization of family members is the key factor in increasing the risk of the family falling into poverty.The NRCMS has significantly reduced the likely risk of falling into poverty.Second,the impact of the NRCMS on poverty alleviation varies among groups with different levels of income.There is no impact on the upper-middle and high-income groups;in contrast,the NRCMS has substantially improved the capacity of low-income rural families to prevent poverty due to illness,especially for the lower-middle-income group.Third,there exist significant regional differences in the impact of NRCMS on the health poverty alleviation of rural households in China.The NRCMS has successfully reduced the risk of rural households in the western region falling into poverty,simultaneously,no significant impact on those in the eastern and central regions.In order to diminish and eliminate poverty eventually and boost rural residents'capacity for income acquisition,we propose the following:raise the actual compensation ratio of the NRCMS,control the rising expense of NRCMS by promoting the payment method reform,construct the comprehensive healthcare system in the western region,strengthen the medical security for the poor in remote area,and enhance the living environment for rural residents.

Issues concerning Migrant Workers' Participation in the New Rural Cooperative Medical System and Countermeasures——Based on the Survey in Wenjiang District and Jintang County, Chengdu City

We conduct questionnaire survey of migrant workers in Wenjiang District and Jintang County of Chengdu City,respectively,using the method of key-point investigation and the sampling survey. We describe the status quo of the sample migrant workers' participation in the New Rural Cooperative Medical System,analyze the issues concerning migrant workers' participation in the New Rural Cooperative Medical System,and put forward the countermeasures and recommendations as follows: using many types of medical insurance; establishing universal reimbursement points in strange land and premium-paying system for migrant workers; making the proportion of reimbursement open and transparent; establishing and improving medicare security system for migrant workers.

Government Responsibility in New Rural Cooperative Medical Care System from the Perspective of Equity and Efficiency

Equity and efficiency,as two essential parts of social security,always influence construction of China's new rural cooperative medical care system.The new rural cooperative medical care system is a rural social security system particularly intended to make it more affordable for the rural poor.It is a multi-channel fundraising system with fund of comprehensive arrangement for serious disease composed by the government,collectives and individuals.Since its implementation,it has made considerable achievements,but there are still many apparent and hidden problems.Through analyzing existing problems in the implementation of new rural cooperative medical care system,from the perspective of equity and efficiency,it reached the conclusion that government should take corresponding responsibilities.At the same time of constantly increasing efficiency,it is recommended to attach importance to the equity,so as to realize the objective of improving the security level of new rural cooperative medical care system.

Restraining Factors and Improving Paths for the Operation Mechanism of New Rural Cooperative Medical System in China

The new rural cooperative medical system has achieved periodical achievements since its establishment.Nevertheless,there are many factors hampering the development of the new system,such as the high cost,the difficulties in fund procurement,the lack of management,the narrow coverage of benefit,the ineffective constraint to the designated medical institutions,the high fund balance rate,and the poor medical facilities and services in rural areas.Countermeasures are put forward to solve these problems,including improving the system design,expanding the coverage of the system,expanding the fund sources,reducing the financing costs,strengthening the fund supervision,enhancing the supervision of designated medical institutions,and improving the capacity of health services in rural areas.

The New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme and Its Implications on Rural Labor Migration in China：Evidence from Longitudinal Surveys

In 2003, China initiated the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme （NRCMS） in order to provide basic health care coverage for the rural population. However, the NRCMS has had a marked impact on rural-urban labor migration as its current regulations present a barrier for cross-region participation in the NRCMS, and its reimbursement system is biased when the enrollees seek medical services outside their location of hukou, a household registration system in China. This paper performs a variety of empirical tests on a panel data set from the China Health and Nutrition Survey （CHNS） to study how the NRCMS affects rural residents＇ work location choices. We observed a ＂locking effect＂ on potential rural migrant workers and a ＂pulling effect＂ on existing ones. According to the results, the NRCMS has discouraged rural residents from working outside their location of hukou, lowering the probability of relocation by 3.52 percent. Meanwhile, the NRCMS system actually encourages existing migrant workers to return home. This paper concludes that the NRCMS has to some extent restrained the free flow of the labor force and exacerbated the migrant worker shortage.

Research on the path of medical service combination from the perspective of departmental cooperation

As an innovative mode of social endowment, combining medical care with modern medical care technology and old-age service is an important direction of a series of social problems caused by the deepening of aging and the intensification of aging process in China. It is the inevitable choice for the development of Chinese characteristics for the aged. At present, with the continuous development of the combination of medical care and rehabilitation, the process of combination of medical care and breeding is slow, and the problems of inter departmental cooperation, high cost of resource integration and low service efficiency have emerged. The paper puts forward that multi head management of different responsibility management body is a bottleneck problem that hinders the integration of medical care. From the objective and subjective two points of view, the administrative system level barrier and the inter departmental interest game are the important reasons that obstruct the medical support and break through the estrangement of the Department and realize the cooperation. Then, according to the theory of large part system reform, the author boldly proposes the idea of establishing a new comprehensive functional department that specializes in the management of pension related affairs.

On Rural Medical Care and Health Undertaking Development during New Medical Reform

Based on in-depth survey of township hospitals in Lushan County of Henan Province, this paper studies the development situations of rural medical care and health undertaking in the course of new medical reform. Results show that both rural medical institution and public health undertaking have considerable development in this course. Working capital situation gradually turns better. However, there are still problems and challenge of shortage of high quality medical care personnel, lack of employment mechanism, poor medical environment, and imperfect bidding and purchasing system of medicines. To further develop rural medical situation, it should improve medical environment, speed up informationization construction, and give prominence to functional orientation.

Effects of New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme on Medical Service Utilization and Medical Expense Control of Inpatients： A 3-year Empirical Study of Hainan Province in China

Background： The New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme （NCMS） has been further adjusted and optimized to reduce the financial burden of rural residents and to achieve universal coverage for them. In this study, we aimed to explore the impact of NCMS on medical service utilization and medical expense of inpatients in recent years. Methods： The research data of Hainan Province were extracted from the Chinese NCMS platform from 2012 to 2014. Detailed information included total expenditure, average inpatients costs, average out-of-pocket payments, actual reimbursement rate, and average annual growth rate of the above indicators. Descriptive analysis was used to gauge the effects of NCMS. Results： In the utilization of medical services, NCMS inpatients in tertiary hospital decreased from 25.49% in 2012 to 20.39% in 2014, inpatients in county hospitals increased from 39.49% to 55.92%, simultaneously. The total expenditure in county hospitals rose steadily from 28.46% to 46.66%, meanwhile, the total expenditure in tertiary hospitals fell from 60.44% to 44.51%.The average out-of-pocket costs of rural inpatients remained stable over the years. Furthermore, the compensation fund ofNCMS inpatients grew significantly. The actual inpatient reimbursement rate at township health centers increased from 76.93% to 84.04%. Meanwhile, the rate at county hospitals and tertiary hospitals increased slightly from 59.37% and 46.10% to 61.25% and 47.71%, respectively. Conclusions： With the improvement of the reimbursement ability, especially after the new health care reform in 2009, the NCMS have been playing a prominent role in alleviating the economic burden of farmers＇ medical treatment. Meanwhile, more patients go to primary hospitals than tertiary hospitals, and the capability of primary hospitals has been greatly improved.

Research on Rural Public Service System Based on the Data of "The Eleventh Five-Year Plan"

Rural public service is the services provided to rural residents to fulfill the needs of agricultural production, development of rural economy and improvement of peasant's living standard. Improving rural public service system is good for promoting the development of rural economy, enhancing the quality of peasant's living standard, narrowing the gap between rural and urban areas and constructing socialistic harmonious society. Currently, our rural power grid construction can meet the essential needs of economic and social development in rural areas. Rural water conservancy structure also fulfills the needs of agricultural production and peasant's life. Rural traffic condition has an obvious improvement. Education, culture, medical care and other public services all have a general enhancement. However, comparing to the city, rural public service system still exists some problems including imperfect infrastructures, low-quality education and medical treatment, low-level living environment and so on. Therefore, it is needed to establish a long-acting system of rural public service to boost the reform of rural basic education, improve the facilities of rural medical treatment, promote the reform of rural cooperative medical service, enhance the management of rural governance and improve the quality of rural life and environment.

Health Insurance and Its Reimbursement Arrangements： Policy Evaluation on New Cooperative Medical System in Rural China

Disease has been one of the top reasons accounting for impoverishment in rural China. The government subsidizes health care through the New Cooperative Medical System since 2003 （ NCMS ）. The paper studies the effectiveness of various reimbursement arrangements in reducing the financial burden caused by health care in rural China. Using data from China Health and Nutrition Survey（CHNS） , it finds that the severity of illness, the type of illness, medical cost and other costs of the treatment are significantly influencing the choice of a type of treatment. Based on the estimated demand function, the paper concludes that the reimbursement for inmpatient care only has little effect on reducing the financial burden and the incidence of catastrophic expenditure and that expending subsidies to outpatient care is a more effective policy.

城乡基本医疗保险制度实施对家庭消费的影响效应及作用机制

基于1988—2018年中国家庭收入调查数据,以城乡基本医疗保险制度实施为准自然实验,采用双重差分法考察了城镇基本医疗保险与新型农村合作医疗保险(即新农合)对家庭消费率的影响及其机制。结果显示:相较于未参保家庭,参加城镇医保的家庭消费率显著高出1.01%,但新农合的影响不显著;机制分析发现,城镇医保促进了参保家庭的总消费和分项消费支出,但新农合对消费支出无显著影响,同时,城镇医保和新农合对总收入和大部分分项收入无显著影响,这与基准回归结果一致;异质性分析表明,城镇医保更多地提升了中老年、非富裕、不健康群体,以及西部地区的家庭消费率。对此,应当充分发挥基本医疗保险制度对提振家庭消费率的积极作用,对“大水漫灌”式的财政补助应进行反思;改变基本医保“户保分离”“业保分离”的现状;加强针对特定人群的医保政策;注重提高参保青年和健康群体的获得感。

中美公共医疗保险制度的比较研究——以美国Medicaid计划和我国新农合制度为实证研究对象

Medicaid计划系美国主流公共医疗保险项目,用以针对性补偿中低收入人群的医疗费用。自1965年推行以来,Medicaid计划的覆盖率和筹资额度保持较快增速,有效缓解了中低收入人群的就医压力。经过多年发展,Medicaid计划形成了较为成熟的筹资和补偿机制,值得我国新农合制度借鉴。

大病保险、医疗服务升级与农民健康

“健康中国2030”规划纲要明确了健康对经济社会发展的重要作用,在新型农村合作医疗制度未能显著改善农民健康的背景下,研究农民健康水平的提升机制具有重要意义。本文聚焦2012年8月开始试点实施的城乡居民大病保险制度,基于2011—2015年中国健康与养老追踪调查(CHARLS)数据,以样本所在城市是否试点实施农村大病保险作为依据构造“农村大病保险”参保变量,运用计量模型实证检验农村大病保险对农民健康的影响效应及机制。实证结果显示,试点农村大病保险使农民自评健康显著提高0.08个单位,并且在对健康水平和农村大病保险等变量进行重新调整的情形下,实证结果依然稳健。异质性分析结果显示,农村大病保险对低收入群体的健康促进作用更大,并且对社区内有医疗点的群体影响效果更为显著。机制分析结果显示,对于需住院群体而言,农村大病保险通过促进农民做出住院决策进而改善了健康;而对于住院群体,农村大病保险通过促进农民选择级别更高的县区级医院进而改善了健康。为进一步提高农民健康水平,应丰富农村大病保险的筹资主体,引入个人缴费和财政补贴,在扩大大病保险基金规模的前提下,进一步提升大病保险待遇水平;同时,应改善农村基层医疗资源分配,提高农民基层医疗服务可及性和服务水平。

病有所医、病无所恐:我国农村合作医疗制度发展历程、运行逻辑与未来进路

新中国成立70多年来,国家一直在探索如何更好地为农村人口供给可负担、高质量的医疗保障,在经历了从传统农村合作医疗到新型农村合作医疗的不间断探索后,形成了中国特色社会主义制度下的农民医疗保障全覆盖模式,这种连续性、从未间断的合作医疗形成了新中国治理变迁的独特经验,是形成国家发展的“中国奇迹”的一种基础保障力量。以历史变迁的长镜头观之,我国合作医疗历经了从“集体福利”“个体消费”“民生服务”走向基本公共服务均等化的实践轨迹,各个阶段都努力在现实需求与资源约束的矛盾运动下最大限度保证农民群众“人人看得起病”。为了在更高水平上保障农民“病有所医、病无所恐”,未来需要继续大力推动城乡居民基本医疗保障制度的一体化改革,扩展农民群众医保报销范围、降低个人承担份额,最终实现城乡居民人人享有健康权利的国家战略规划,迈向以人民为中心的社会主义“共同健康”之路。

乡村振兴视角下农民对新农合满意度影响因素研究——来自全国2152个农户的微观数据

人们对美好生活的向往是乡村振兴的关键衡量指标,农民对新农合满意度评价影响到农民对于乡村振兴建设的满意度。本文关注乡村振兴视角下,农民对新农合满意度影响因素,利用全国2152个农户入户调查数据,采用Eveiws软件对数据进行了有序Logistic回归分析,结果表明:整体上农民对新农合满意度高于不满意度比例,55%对新农合表示满意,37%则对新农合持有一般态度;年龄、文化程度、农民纯收入对新农合满意度具有显著正向作用,说明提升文化程度以及改善人民收入,有利于提升新农合满意度;通过网络获取医疗信息便利度对新农合满意度有显著正向影响,表明互联网的使用,强化了农民信息获取、便利了农民之间的交流,从而带动了人们对农村新农合的满意度;比照东北区域村庄,东部区域和中部区域村庄居民对新农合满意度要低一些。

农民参与新型农村合作医疗及满意度分析--基于3省245户农户的调查

调查数据表明,农民的新型农村合作医疗参合率高达93.33%。logistic模型实证发现,与周围的人大多不参与新农合的受访者相比,周围的人大多参与新农合的受访者的新农合参与率要高出314倍。通过其他方式宣传而参与的农户要低68%。高收入者参与新型农村合作医疗的可能性要高3.45倍。有90.3%的参合者对新型农村合作医疗制度总体表示满意,农民对各级医疗机构服务的满意程度均超过80%,但仍存在着新农合制度保障水平偏低以及基层卫生医疗服务在技术、态度、收费等方面不能满足农民需求等问题。

中国西部农村地区某县孕产期保健利用现状及对策研究

目的了解西部农村地区某县妇女孕产期保健利用现状及影响因素。方法对544名妇女进行问卷调查,对44名卫生服务管理者/供者以及42名妇女进行访谈。结果 70.6%的孕产妇参加了新型农村合作医疗(新农合),32.9%获得报销,未获报销的66.0%是因为超生。新农合缓解了具有产科危重症或并发症的孕产妇的经济负担。流动人口的报销手续复杂。卫生人力资源主要分布在县医院和妇幼保健院,在乡镇卫生院,中专以下学历占1/4。2005年至2008年的保健总收入中,政府拨款仅占妇幼保健总收入的5.0%。近1/5妇女的孕产期保健总费用超过家庭年收入的20%。选择县级医院、乡镇卫生院分娩的分别占39.8%和58.6%,服务质量和交通方便是选择的主要原因。偏远山区交通不便影响地理可及性。"坐月子"、重男轻女、为挑时辰而择时剖宫产、"方音岛"现象阻碍了孕产妇保健利用。结论新农合政策在一定程度上提高了该地区的孕产期保健的服务利用度,偏远乡镇的地理可及性亟须提高。目前尚有多种社会文化因素制约孕产妇保健利用。