Study On Demand And Influencing Factors For Medical Care In Rural China

Due to the existence of the dual urban-rural structure in China,economic development between urban and rural areas is quite different.The rural economy is developing slowly,and the income level of rural residents is much lower than that of urban residents.The unbalanced development of the economy has led to backward medical development in rural areas and the lack of medical resources.As the health environment in rural areas is relatively poor,farmers are faced with higher morbidity and demand for medical services.At the same time,the overall low level of medical services in rural areas,inadequate medical service infrastructure,and low investment in health services have also inhibited the demand of rural residents for health care services..There is a large gap between urban residents and rural residents' access and availability to health care services and health levels.However,rural medical and health expenditures have been increasing,and the increase in health expenditure has further reflected the increase in the medical and health needs of rural residents in China.Relatively backward medical service conditions are difficult to meet the needs of rural residents for medical services.In this study,medical behavior and expenditure on medical services are used as criteria for measuring the demand for medical service in rural residents,and at the same time exploring the influencing factors affecting medical behavior and medical expenditure,so that we can find out the influencing factors affecting rural residents' medical service needs.Based on the study,we provide relevant policy recommendations to meet the needs of rural residents.Using the medical behaviors and medical expenses of rural residents as indicators to measure the demand of rural residents' medical services,this article uses the CHNS data in 2011 to study rural residents aged over 18 years old as an object of study.By establishing the Heckman dichotomy and the OLS model,the influencing factors affecting the occurrence of medical behaviors and medical expenses of rural residents are discussed.Based on these,the medical expenses are further divided into outpatient medical expenses and inpatient medical expenses to discuss the influencing factors respectively.Through empirical analysis,it is found that the main factors influencing the sickness of rural residents are medical level,disease severity,medical insurance,and medical service price.Expenditure on medical services for rural residents is mainly affected by age,education level,health status,medical insurance policies and prices of medical services.Among them,out-patient medical expenses are related to education level,severity of illness,reimbursement ratio of medical insurance,and outpatient service price;Inpatient medical expenditure has a relationship with age,education level,disease severity,marital status,medical insurance reimbursement ratio,payment standards,service prices and regional factors.According to the empirical conclusions,the relevant recommendations in this paper are as follows:increase the construction of rural medical service facilities;increase the level of rural residents' health education and the awareness of preventing of health care;control the prices of medical services;properly expand the proportion of rural medical insurance reimbursement;and increase government investment in rural health care.Through the above related measures,we can improve the level of medical services in rural areas,strengthen the awareness of rural residents for medical treatment,fully meet the needs of rural residents for medical services,and improve the health status of all rural residents.