Study On Health Equity And Implementation Effect Of The New Rural Cooperative Medical Care System

Health is the foundation of human survival and development, and also is an important indicator to measure people’s quality of life and degree of social progress. In economics, health and education are considered as important parts of human capital, and closely related to social and economic development. Health equity, compared to researches in income equity, hasn’t received too much attention from scholars. But health equity is often considered as an important factor on income equity, and an important indicator of social equity and justice.People meet their demand for health through indirect means, and participating in medical insurance to receive medical services is one of important means. The rural cooperative medical care system launched at the planned economy period has made a great contribution to the improvement of the health status of rural residents. However, since the reform and opening, with the collapse of the cooperative medical care, the health problems of rural residents begin to emerge, and poverty because of illness is in an increasingly serious situation, and the health gap between urban and rural is being widened. The new rural cooperative medical system, which was launched in rural areas since2003, is designed to relieve rural residents’burdens, and increase their demand for medical services, and ultimately improve their health. Studying the impact of the new rural cooperative medical system on the health status of rural residents, not only contributes to further improve the new rural cooperative medical system, but also has important theoretical and practical significance in the continued economic development and the realization of social equity and justice.This article consists of the following aspects:Firstly, the concepts of health and health equity are defined, and the meaning of health in economics is focused, and the measurement methods of the health and health equity are summarized. Secondly, from a macro and micro point of view, relevant health indicators are selected to analyze the health status of rural residents, the health gap between urban and rural residents and the income-related health equality within rural residents. The results show that rural residents’health situation is not optimistic; the health gap between urban and rural residents is further widened; the situation of the income-related health equality is deteriorating. Thirdly, on the basis of summing up the development process of China’s rural cooperative medical, using the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) data and difference in difference (DID) and propensity score matching (PSM), the impact of the new rural cooperative system on rural residents’health status is empirically analyzed. The empirical results show that the implementation of the new rural cooperative system did not improve the health status of rural residents, and deteriorate the income-related health equality situation within rural residents. Finally, according to the previous conclusions of the study, to improve the health status of rural residents in China, policy recommendations are provided, including specify the functions of the government to increase financial support for the new rural cooperative system; coordinate urban and rural development to speed up the process of integration of urban and rural residents medical insurance; converge the new rural cooperative system and the medical assistance to safeguard the health rights of low-income groups.