Does Economic Policy Uncertainty Matter for Healthcare Expenditure in China? A Spatial Econometric Analysis

The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has triggered adiscussion of the relationship between urbanization and the spread of infectious diseases. Namely, whether urbanization will exacerbate the spread of infectious diseases. Based on 31 provincial data from 2002 to 2018 in China, the impact of urbanization on the spread of infectious diseases from the dimensions of “population” and “land” is analyzed in this paper by using the GMM (generalized method of moments) model. The empirical study shows that the population increase brought by urbanization does not aggravate the spread of infectious diseases. On the contrary, urban education, employment and entrepreneurship, housing, medical and health care, and other basic public services brought by population urbanization can help reduce the risk of the spread of infectious diseases. The increasing density of buildings caused by land urbanization increases the risk of the spread of infectious diseases. Moreover, the impact of urbanization on the spread of infectious diseases has regional heterogeneity. Therefore, the prevention and control of disease play a crucial role.

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whether Urbanization Has Intensified the Spread of Infectious Diseases—Renewed Question by the COVID-19 Pandemic

et al. 2021

“…The above conclusions have several important policy implications for China to promote the realization of the goal of "fair medical insurance" and the common prosperity of the elderly during the Fourth 5-Year Plan period (44). As a crucial medical security system design in China, basic medical insurance has a series of tasks such as adjusting the income distribution gap, guaranteeing health rights, and maintaining health justice (45).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Can Basic Medical Insurance Reduce Elderly Family Income Inequality in China?

Wang

Zhang

et al. 2022

Self Cite

Basic medical insurance is the critical medical security system to realize common prosperity in China. This study explores the impact of basic medical insurance on elderly family income inequality in China using the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data in 2018. Our finding shows that basic medical insurance is significantly negatively correlated with elderly family income inequality, indicating basic medical insurance has a positive impact on narrowing the elderly family income inequality. The heterogeneity analysis shows that basic medical insurance has a more significant reduction effect among the eastern elderly and the younger elderly family. The results also suggest that health performance significantly mediates the relationship between basic medical insurance and elderly family income inequality. This study implies that the Chinese government should increase the proportion of basic medical insurance reimbursement and expand the scope of reimbursement for basic medical insurance to realize income fairness among elderly families.

“…The excessive burden of healthcare expenditures has a negative impact on human wellbeing, especially in developing countries. As the world's largest developing country, China faces various challenges, such as insufficient healthcare resources, uneven distribution of healthcare resources, severe air pollution, and an increasingly aging society, all of which contribute to the escalation of healthcare expenditure ( 3 ). In 2021, the average healthcare expenditure per capita was 5,348 RMB, which accounted for 8.8% of total personal expenditures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How does digital infrastructure affect residents' healthcare expenditures? Evidence from Chinese microdata

Han,

Hai,

et al. 2023

Healthcare expenditure is only one of the heavy burdens that families face in developing countries. Current research mainly focuses on analyzing the effects of financial policy. There is a lack of studies that examine the understanding and assessment of the impact of digital infrastructure on this issue. In this study, we used the Broadband China policy as a quasi-natural experiment to explore the impact of digital infrastructure on residents' healthcare expenditures in China. Using the differences-in-differences (DID) model and micro-survey data, we found that digital infrastructure has a positive impact on reducing the burden of healthcare expenditure in China. Our findings indicate that residents in cities can save up to 18.8% on healthcare expenses following large-scale digital infrastructure construction. Through mechanism analysis, we found that digital infrastructure reduces residents' healthcare expenditures by improving both commercial insurance availability and the healthcare efficiency of residents. In addition, the effects of digital infrastructure on reducing healthcare expenditure are more pronounced among middle-aged individuals, those with low levels of education, and those with low incomes, which indicates this digital construction wave helps bridge the social gap between the poor and the rich. This study provides compelling evidence of the positive impact of digital society construction on social health and wellbeing.