Inequality In Health: An Obstacle To Sustainable And Harmonious Growth

Health is the foundation of the human beings and development. Health is one of the most important indices for assessing a nation's economic development and social advancement. Equality in health is an intrinsically critical problem affecting and restricting socioeconomic sustainable development. Research on equality in health is significant in both promoting to gain benefits from "Population Extra Dividend" and realization of the social objective of a Well-off Society in All-rounded Way. How to use the international and national research findings in health to establish the theoretical framework based on the Chinese situations, to identify the research methodology and parameters, and provide policy options. Undoubtedly, it has great importance in underpinning the Chinese overall, balanced and sustainable socioeconomic development.This dissertation consists of such contents as follows: Part One is introduction, including research backgrounds, literature review, train of thoughts, research framework and methodology. Part Two is titled Health and Socioeconomic Indices, discussing the conception and indices of health, the connection between health and economic growth, the mechanism of how health affect socioeconomic prosperity, the production of health function and the key factors. Part Three focuses on inequality in health and its socioeconomic effects, discussing the definition of health inequalities, measurement indices and methods, and its socioeconomic effects. Part Four is the methods of health inequality measurement, including health status measurement and equity of health care system measurement. Part Five is titled Health Distribution of Chinese People During the Period of Health Economic Growth, comparing the health status differentials among people across economic localities, between urban and rural areas, and among different economic groups. Also, it analyzes the correlation between income differentials and health differentials. Part Six focuses on unequal access to health insurance by reviewing and assessing the urban health insurance system reforms and rural CMS reforms, as well as the health service system reforming during the transitional period in China. The relevant causes are discussed. Part Seven is concerned with equity in health resource allocation in China. Part Eight is empirical study of equity in health financing system in China. It analyzes the equity in macro...