Does school-based private health insurance improve students’ health status? Evidence from China

Abstract

Private health insurance is an important supplement to social health insurance. However, there is a lack of research on the impact of school-based private health insurance programs on students' health in developing countries. This study aims to investigate the causal impact of school-based supplementary private health insurance programs on the self-rated health status of Chinese secondary school students, with an average age of 14, using a longitudinal database, the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS). The study exploits the cross-school variation and discrete feature of the response variable by applying a two-level ordered logit model with a random effect at the school level. An ordered logit propensity score matching method, clustering the standard errors by school, is applied for the robustness check. Lagged values of potential endogenous covariates are included in both methods to control the effect of unobserved individual heterogeneities. The results indicate that participating in uniform schoolbased private health insurance programs does not improve student self-rated health status, whereas individualized health insurance significantly improves student self-rated health status.

Inverted U-Shaped Relationship between Physical Activity and Academic Achievement among Chinese Adolescents: On the Mediating Role of Physical and Mental Health

“…Considering that it is difficult to show the overall health level of adolescents by simply using indicators such as BMI and the degree of myopia, this study drew on Guan's research, and measured adolescents' health status self-assessment by adopting a five-point scale "How is your overall health now (1 = very bad to 5 = very good)?" [40]. In terms of mental health, we drew on the measurement methods of existing Chinese research [41].…”

Multi-Dimensional Comparison of the Impact Mechanism of the Self-Rated Health Status of Urban and Rural Residents in Chinese Social Environments

“…Personal attributes such as gender, age, education, and occupation are related to health, but health literacy is the key determinant of health [ 14 ]. Students’ SRHS was not improved by enrollment in a unified school-based private health insurance plan although individualized health insurance significantly improved students’ SRHS [ 15 ]. Media promotion had a positive effect on purchasing private medical insurance, whereas personal awareness had a negative effect [ 16 ].…”