Rural‐urban disparity in risk exposure to involuntary social health insurance transition in China: An investigation of chronic disease patients' mental health problems

Chronic disease patients have long suffered from mental health problems because of the long‐lasting and costly treatments. Although the multilevel social health insurance system in China attempts to provide them with full‐fledged health insurance coverage, the increasing prevalence of gig economy unexpectedly disrupts this situation. As the social health insurance system in China is closely associated with employment status, unemployed rural‐to‐urban migrant workers/regular urban workers have to accept the transition from urban employee basic medical insurance (UEBMI) to new cooperative medical scheme (NCMS)/urban resident basic medical insurance (URBMI). This study investigates the influence of this involuntary health insurance transition on the mental health of chronic disease patients. Empirical results show that the experience of transition from UEBMI to NCMS would significantly deteriorate the mental health of chronic disease patients, while the transition from UEBMI to URBMI would not. Accordingly, chronically ill rural‐to‐urban migrant workers are vulnerable to the involuntary health insurance transition that further deteriorates their mental health, and the multilevel social health insurance system in China cannot cope well with the emerging phenomenon of frequent employment change in labor market.     

Progressive segmented health insurance: Colombian health reform and access to health services

Equal access for poor populations to health services is a comprehensive objective for any health reform. The Colombian health reform addressed this issue through a segmented progressive social health insurance approach. The strategy was to assure universal coverage expanding the population covered through payroll linked insurance, and implementing a subsidized insurance program for the poorest populations, those not affiliated through formal employment. A prospective study was performed to follow-up health service utilization and out-of-pocket expenses using a cohort design. It was representative of four Colombian cities (Cendex Health Services Use and Expenditure Study, 2001). A four part econometric model was applied. The model related medical service utilization and medication with different socioeconomic, geographic, and risk associated variables. Results showed that subsidized health insurance improves health service utilization and reduces the financial burden for the poorest, as compared to those non-insured. Other social health insurance schemes preserved high utilization with variable out-of-pocket expenditures. Family and age conditions have significant effect on medical service utilization. Geographic variables play a significant role in hospital inpatient service utilization. Both, geographic and income variables also have significant impact on out-of-pocket expenses. Projected utilization rates and a simulation favor a dual policy for two-stage income segmented insurance to progress towards the universal insurance goal.     

Health Insurance and the Homeless

There is very little known about health care utilization among the homeless or about the role of health insurance on utilization patterns. Many health care reform proposals advocate expanding health insurance coverage for various segments of society, including the homeless. Although homeless people who lack health insurance face strong financial barriers to health services, providing them with health insurance may not appreciably increase their demand for health care if they also face important non-financial barriers. We investigate the relationship between insurance and utilization for this group based on estimates from an empirical model of medical care use and insurance coverage. Using our estimates, we simulate potential effects of policy changes on various types of utilization, including use of mental health services and treatment for alcohol or other drug abuse. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

自组织数据挖掘在卫生总费用预测中的应用

本文采用自组织数据挖掘方法建立了卫生总费用的预测模型，发现影响我国卫生总费用的重要因素有：GDP、医疗卫生服务成本、全国保险福利费用总额、全国从业人员数、城镇职工医疗卫生支出、政府卫生支出等。模型预测结果显示：中国卫生总费用在今后若干年会有比较快的增长，需要政府从宏观政策上加强卫生改革的力度来控制医疗卫生服务成本，并积极推进医疗保险制度改革。     

Trends in Health Care Financial Burdens, 2001 to 2009

Context: Over the past decade, health care spending increased faster than GDP and income, and decreasing affordability is cited as contributing to personal bankruptcies and as a reason that some of the nonelderly population is uninsured. We examined the trends in health care affordability over the past decade, measuring the financial burdens associated with health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs and highlighting implications of the Affordable Care Act for the future financial burdens of particular populations.Methods: We used cross sections of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component (MEPS-HC) from 2001 to 2009. We defined financial burden at the health insurance unit (HIU) level and calculated it as the ratio of expenditures on health care—employer-sponsored insurance coverage (ESI) and private nongroup premiums and out-of-pocket payments—to modified adjusted gross income.Findings: The median health care financial burden grew on average by 2.7% annually and by 21.9% over the period. Using a range of definitions, the fraction of households facing high financial burdens increased significantly. For example, the share of HIUs with health care expenses exceeding 10% of income increased from 35.9% to 44.8%, a 24.8% relative increase. The share of the population in HIUs with health care financial burdens between 2% and 10% fell, and the share with burdens between 10% and 44% rose.Conclusions: We found a clear trend over the past decade toward an increasing share of household income devoted to health care. The ACA will affect health care spending for subgroups of the population differently. Several groups’ burdens will likely decrease, including those becoming eligible for Medicaid or subsidized private insurance and those with expensive medical conditions. Those newly obtaining coverage might increase their health spending relative to income, but they will gain access to care and the ability to spread their expenditures over time, both of which have demonstrable economic value.     

Has Income-related Inequity in Health Care Utilization and Expenditures Been Improved? Evidence From the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 2005 and 2010

Objectives

The purpose of this study is to examine and explain the extent of income-related inequity in health care utilization and expenditures to compare the extent in 2005 and 2010 in Korea.

Methods

We employed the concentration indices and the horizontal inequity index proposed by Wagstaff and van Doorslaer based on one- and two-part models. This study was conducted using data from the 2005 and 2010 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We examined health care utilization and expenditures for different types of health care providers, including health centers, physician clinics, hospitals, general hospitals, dental care, and licensed traditional medical practitioners.

Results

The results show the equitable distribution of overall health care utilization with pro-poor tendencies and modest pro-rich inequity in the amount of medical expenditures in 2010. For the decomposition analysis, non-need variables such as income, education, private insurance, and occupational status have contributed considerably to pro-rich inequality in health care over the period between 2005 and 2010.

Conclusions

We found that health care utilization in Korea in 2010 was fairly equitable, but the poor still have some barriers to accessing primary care and continuing to receive medical care.     

Cost savings associated with the use of community health centers

This study assesses the potential cost savings associated with the use of community health centers, based on econometric analyses of the 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. After controlling for health status, health insurance coverage, income, age, and other factors, this study finds that patients who receive a majority of their ambulatory care at community health centers have significantly lower annual overall medical expenditures (24%) and ambulatory expenditures (25%) than those who do not. These results are consistent with other studies indicating that, by providing good quality primary care, community health centers can reduce the utilization of other medical services.     

基本医疗保险制度下慢性肾病门诊患者保障效果分析

目的:分析武汉市慢性肾病门诊患者的卫生服务利用和医疗费用负担等情况,了解当前基本医疗保险制度下慢性肾病门诊患者的保障效果,提出加强慢性肾病综合管理的发展对策和优化建议。方法:通过问卷调查法对武汉市6家三甲综合医院267名慢性肾病门诊医保患者进行调研,采用专家咨询法对肾脏科医生进行访谈,采用描述性分析方法分析其卫生服务利用、疾病经济风险度、灾难性支出现象、医保满意度等情况。结果:城镇职工医保CKD患者门诊服务利用较为频繁,城镇职工医保类型患者的次均门诊费用高于其他两种医保类型,新型农村合作医疗患者家庭的疾病经济风险度、灾难性支出现象明显高于其他两种医保类型。大部分患者认为当前医保门诊政策不能满足就诊需求。讨论:要加强对新型农村合作医疗医保患者的关注,加强预防教育和早期管理,完善慢性肾病医保门诊管理政策。     

我国卫生总费用筹资的结构性特征与人均可支配收入的比较分析

本文依据我国2003—2015年卫生总费用的基础数据,比较新医改前后卫生总费用筹资的结构性特征与人均可支配收入的变化,分析了新医改前后卫生总费用筹资的总体水平、筹资结构变化的合理性、总体发展趋势的可持续性及其与人均可支配收入的发展变动特征。研究发现,新医改之后我国卫生总费用增长率虽有所下降,但个人卫生支出增长率仍呈上升趋势,政府医疗保障支出的增长对个人卫生支出的替代水平有限,人均个人卫生支出增长率超过城乡居民人均收入增长率,"看病贵"问题仍然非常突出。针对以上问题,本文提出加快公立医院改革,强化医保基金专业化建设,提高医保基金控费能力等建议。     

Risking Life and Limb: Estimating a Measure of Medical Care Economic Risk and Considering its Implications

This paper considers the risk of incurring future medical expenditures in light of a family's resources available to pay for those expenditures as well as their choice of health insurance. We model non‐premium medical out‐of‐pocket expenditures and use the estimates from our model to develop a prospective measure of medical care economic risk estimating the proportion of families who are at risk of incurring high non‐premium out‐of‐pocket medical care expenses in relation to its resources. We further use the estimates from our model to compare the extent to which different types of insurance mitigate the risk of incurring non‐premium expenditures by providing for increased utilization of medical care. We find that while 21.3% of families lack the resources to pay for the median expenditures for their insurance type, 42.4% lack the resources to pay for the 99^th percentile of expenditures for their insurance type. We also find the mediating effect of insurance on non‐premium expenditures to outweigh the associated premium expense for expenditures above $1804 for employer‐sponsored insurance and $4337 for direct purchase insurance for those younger than age 65; and above $12 118 of expenditures for Medicare supplementary plans for those aged 65 or older. Published 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

The welfare gain from replacing the health insurance tax exclusion with lump-sum tax credits

This paper analyzes the welfare gain from replacing the tax exclusion of employer-provided health insurance with a lump-sum tax credit. It differs from earlier studies in that we look at the welfare cost of health insurance tax exclusion as coming directly from excessive health insurance rather than from overconsumption of medical care and that we account for the labor market effect of the tax exclusion on welfare. Both differences work to produce a smaller tax reform welfare gain. For a set of mid-range parameter values, the welfare gain is about 21% of current health insurance tax expenditures. In addition, government tax expenditures would fall by 38%, and health insurance spending would fall by 77% after the reform.     

Supplemental Health Insurance and Healthcare Consumption—A Dynamic Approach to Moral Hazard

We analyze the existence and persistence of moral hazard over time to test the assumption of pent‐up demand. We consider the effects of supplemental health insurance provided by a private insurer when added to compulsory public insurance that is already supplemented by private insurance. Using original panel data from a French mutuelle, we study the influence of insurance on all of the dimensions of healthcare expenditures: (1) the probability of using health care, (2) the number of uses conditional on use, and (3) the per unit cost of care. To conduct this study, we control, to the extent possible, for endogeneity because of adverse selection using the characteristics of our panel data. Our study allows us to confirm a positive and significant effect of the extra complementary health insurance on healthcare consumption, primarily in terms of the probability of using care. More interestingly, our results show that these effects are principally transitory mainly for the probability of using dental care and optical care and depend on income. Finally, we show that individuals did not postpone health care before enrollment. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Urban employee health insurance reform and the impact on out-of-pocket payment in China

Since the middle of the 1990s, China has undertaken a significant reform in urban employee health insurance programs. Using data from the pilot experiment conducted in Zhenjiang, this study examines changes in the pre- and post-reform distributions of out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures across four representative groups by chronic disease, income, education, and job status. Major findings suggested increased OOP expenditures for all groups after the reform. However, the redistributions in OOP appear to be in favor of the disadvantaged groups, suggesting a more equitable change led by the reform. This study concludes that the post-reform insurance model did not compromise equity in cost-sharing while containing cost inflation and increasing insurance coverage for the urban population.     

Health Insurance and Health Care among the Mid‐Aged and Older Chinese: Evidence from the National Baseline Survey of CHARLS

We document the recent profile of health insurance and health care among mid‐aged and older Chinese using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study conducted in 2011. Overall health insurance coverage is about 93%. Multivariate regressions show that respondents with lower income as measured by per capita expenditure have a lower chance of being insured, as do the less‐educated, older, and divorced/widowed women and rural‐registered people. Premiums and reimbursement rates of health insurance vary significantly by schemes. Inpatient reimbursement rates for urban people increase with total cost to a plateau of 60%; rural people receive much less. Demographic characteristics such as age, education, marriage status, per capita expenditure, and self‐reported health status are not significantly associated with share of out‐of‐pocket cost after controlling community effects. For health service use, we find large gaps that vary across health insurance plans, especially for inpatient service. People with access to urban health insurance plans are more likely to use health services. In general, Chinese people have easy access to median low‐level medical facilities. It is also not difficult to access general hospitals or specialized hospitals, but there exists better access to healthcare facilities in urban areas. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Depression hurts,depression costs: The medical spending attributable to depression and depressive symptoms in China

Due to its fast economic growth and lifestyle changes, China is experiencing a rapid epidemiological transition from communicable to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Mental disorder such as depression is an important yet often neglected NCD and is becoming a growing cause of disability, suicides, and disease burden. This paper provides the first nationally representative estimate of the medical cost attributable to depression and depressive symptoms among the adult population in China. On the basis of the 2012 China Family Panel Studies survey, our results indicate that these mental health conditions have significant impacts on the individual medical expenditure, and they jointly contribute to 14.7% of total personal expected medical spending in China, with depression and depressive symptoms accounting for 6.9% and 7.8%, respectively. Given that patients with mental illness face multiple psychological and institutional barriers in seeking appropriate treatment, the high depression‐induced medical costs may be primarily driven by the cost‐shifting effect from mental health care to general health care, as mental disorders often coexist with other NCDs such as diabetes and hypertension. As an implication, our study calls for an urgent reform of China's mental health and insurance systems to remove the policy‐induced obstacles for the access to mental health care resources.     

Rising medical costs and the reform of Japan's health insurance system

From the early twentieth century until recently, the Japanese health insurance system consistently expanded its coverage and benefits. In 1961, Japan achieved universal coverage for health insurance. In the 1970s, however, the insurance system began to experience severe fiscal problems, as total medical expenditures rose faster than national income, as medical costs for the elderly increased rapidly, and as enormous budget deficits accumulated in several insurance schemes. Controlling the increase in medical care expenditures became the top priority of the 1980s for the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The paper presents recent government policies and efforts to contain medical expenditures and establish a firm financial basis for Japan's social security system. The government began with regulating the demand side of medical care but is also introducing planning measures for supply factors. Possible government interventions to contain medical expenditures are proposed for both demand and supply approaches. Measures for cost containment, however, need to be balanced with efforts to improve people's health and maintain equity in the health insurance system.     

北京医药分开试点成效及启示——以北京朝阳医院为例

目的:以北京市朝阳医院为例,分析北京市医药分开改革试点三年来所取得的成效,为公立医院改革提出建议。方法:收集医药分开试点前后门诊和住院的相关数据,对药占比、次均药费、业务量、医疗质量、收入及结构进行比较分析。结果:改革第三年与改革前一年相比,门诊、住院药占比分别下降16.98个百分点和13.3个百分点,年均降幅分别为25.57%和36%;门诊、住院患者次均/例均药费分别下降21.39%和34.8%。医疗收入较改革前增加68.1%;药品收入较改革前下降14.29%。医事服务费收入达到24 350万元。检查、化验收入增加52.60%。讨论:试点医院医药分开对于控制药品费用效果良好。建议:公立医院改革下一步应朝着"医检分开"、调整医疗服务价格等方向推进。     

The impact of medical insurance for the poor in Georgia: a regression discontinuity approach

Improving access to health care and financial protection of the poor is a key concern for policymakers in low‐ and middle‐income countries, but there have been few rigorous program evaluations. The Medical Insurance Program for the Poor in the republic of Georgia provides a free and extensive benefit package and operates through a publicly funded voucher program, enabling beneficiaries to choose their own private insurance company. Eligibility is determined by a proxy means test administered to applicant households. The objective of this study is to evaluate the program's impact on key outcomes including utilization, financial risk protection, and health behavior and management. A dedicated survey of approximately 3500 households around the thresholds was designed to minimize unobserved heterogeneity by sampling clusters with both beneficiary and non‐beneficiary households. The research design exploits the sharp discontinuities at two regional eligibility thresholds to estimate local average treatment effects. Results suggest that the program did not affect utilization of health services but decreased mean out‐of‐pocket expenditures for some groups and reduced the risk of high inpatient expenditures. There are no systematic impacts on health behavior, management of chronic illnesses, and patient satisfaction. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A description of outpatient drug use in rural China: evidence of differences due to insurance coverage

This paper describes the effects of health financing systems (insurance) on outpatient drug use in rural China. 1320 outpatients were interviewed (exit interview) in the randomly selected county, township and village health care facilities in five counties in three provinces of central China. The interview was face to face. Questions were asked by a trained interviewer and were answered by patient him/herself. The main finding was that health insurance appeared to influence drug use in outpatient services. The average number of drugs per visit was 2·56 and drug expenditures per visit was 16·9 yuan. Between insured and uninsured (out‐of‐pocket) groups, there were significant differences in the number of drugs and drug expenditures per visit. The insured had a lower number of drugs and a higher drug expenditure per visit than the uninsured, implying the use of more expensive drugs per visit than the uninsured. There were also significant differences in the number of drugs and drug expenditures per visit between the types of insurance. One third of the drugs were anti‐infectives, most of which were penicillin, gentamycin and sulfonamides. The results imply that uninsured patients do not receive the same care as the insured do even if they have the same needs. The fee‐for‐service financing for hospitals and health insurance have changed health providers' and consumers' behaviour and resulted in the increase of medical expenditure. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.