Research On The Impact Of Medical Insurance On The Household Consumption Gap In Our Country

To narrow the gap in household consumption and promote common prosperity is an integral part of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.The problem of"difficulty" and "high cost" of access to medical services is serious,and the phenomenon of "poverty caused by illness" and "poverty returned due to illness" occurs frequently in China.Medical treatment,especially the large amount of medical treatment,has brought great economic burden to the masses,especially to poor families,and hindered the great process of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.Medical insurance aims at reducing the burden of medical expenses for residents and stimulating the consumption vitality of families,as well as narrowing the gap between rich and poor and improving social welfare.Since the implementation of the new medical reform policy in 2009,the medical insurance industry has developed rapidly,and a basic medical insurance safety net covering all the people has been initially established.The medical security level has been significantly improved.But does the rapid development of medical insurance promote social equity?Has the health insurance narrowed the consumption gap between rich and poor families?In order to answer the above questions,this paper summarizes domestic and foreign literature on the consumption gap and the impact of medical insurance on consumption,laying a foundation for the theoretical research and empirical analysis below.On the basis of the existing index system of inequality,a new measure index of household consumption gap is constructed by taking community as the comparative scope.Starting from the hypothesis of Keynes’ absolute income,this paper explores the influence mechanism of medical insurance on household consumption gap,and concludes it as insurance effect and income effect.Then,based on the data of Chinese Family Panel Studies(CFPS),the impact of medical insurance on China’s household consumption gap was tested by empirical research,and the basic results were tested by in-depth robustness test,mediating effect test and heterogeneity test,and the following conclusions are drawn:(1)medical insurance has a significant restraining effect on household consumption gap in China,which is significant for medical consumption but not for non-medical consumption;(2)the inhibitory effect of medical insurance on household consumption gap is mainly realized through insurance effect,and the income effect of commercial health insurance is very small,while the income effect of social medical insurance is not significant;(3)the inhibitory effect of medical insurance on household consumption gap has heterogeneity of income and health level,especially the effect on low-income families is not significant..Therefore,this paper puts forward policy suggestions for improving medical insurance:(1)medical insurance should better respond to changes in medical demand,and strive to improve the actual level of insurance on the basis of expanding coverage;(2)pay more attention to families with lower incomes,improve their access to medical care,and vigorously promote health poverty alleviation projects;(3)accelerate the development of the serious illness insurance system and encourage insurance companies to develop diversified health insurance products,and make better use of the synergy between the government and the market.