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HEALTH INSURANCE AND MEDICAL IMPOVERISHMENT IN RURAL CHINA: EVIDENCE FROM GUIZHOU PROVINCE

Agricultural Information Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, #12 Zhong Guan Cun Nan Da Jie, Haidian District, Beijing, China, 100081, China

E-mail Address: zhangyumei2006@126.com

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MATEUSZ J. FILIPSKI

Development Strategy and Governance Division, International Food Policy Research Institute, 2033 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20815, USA

E-mail Address: m.filipski@cgiar.org

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KEVIN Z. CHEN

International Food Policy Research Institute, #12 Zhong Guan Cun Nan Da Jie, Haidian District, CAAS, Mailbox F16, Beijing, China, 100081, China

E-mail Address: k.chen@cgiar.org

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S021759081650017XCited by:6 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

We analyze the effects of the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS) on poverty, using micro-level household data from 17 villages in a poor area of China’s Guizhou province. A four-wave panel dataset allows us to follow NCMS through its reforms. First-order impact assessments suggest NCMS helps reduce the poverty rate by up to 3 percentage points, and the poverty gap by up to 15 percentage points. It also reduces the contribution of health expenditures to inequality as measured by Gini coefficient. The benefits of NCMS in terms of poverty and inequality appear considerably larger after major reforms in 2009, which expanded benefits and coverage.

The authors acknowledge funding support by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71203222) and CGIAR Research Challenge Program on Policy, Institution, and Market (PIM). The authors also thank staff and students from the International Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (ICARD) and Guizhou University for participating in the field survey and entering the data used for this study.

Keywords:

JEL: I13, I38

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