我国政府卫生支出的国际比较及对城乡居民医疗费用的影响

本文回顾了我国政府卫生支出的历史和现实状况。通过国际比较,认为我国政府卫生支出的总体水平较低,主要原因是由于我国财政支出占GDP比例太低。通过对我国政府卫生支出的结构的分析,发现我国中央与地方政府的负担比例不协调,地方政府在卫生支出上存在明显差异,并且在城乡之间的分配不尽合理。本文测算了我国1998—2008年政府卫生支出与财政支出之间的弹性,实证分析发现我国政府卫生支出对于城乡居民医疗费用产生的影响不同,政府应加大对于农村地区的卫生投入。

International comparisons of Chinese government expenditure on health and the influence on the medical expenses of urban and rural residents

This paper reviews the history and reality of the Chinese government health expenditure.The international comparisons show that Chinese government expenditure on health is relatively low,and the main reason is that fiscal expenditure in GDP is in a relative low proportion.According to analyzing government health expenditure structure,we found that the proportion of the burden is uncoordinated between China＇s central and local governments.Local government expenditure on health is significantly different and not entirely rational distribution between urban and rural areas.The paper calculates the elasticities between government health expenditure and fiscal expenditure in 1998—2008.The empirical analysis indicates that the Chinese government health expenditures have different effects for medical expenses of urban and rural residents.It recommends government should put additional resources into rural areas.