Research On Regional Development Differences And Influencing Factors Of Commercial Health Insurance In Shandong Provinc

Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up,China has initially formed a multi-level medical system covering urban and rural residents,with basic medical insurance as the mainstay and commercial health insurance as a supplement.With the guidance and support of national and provincial government policies,the commercial health insurance market in Shandong Province has developed rapidly.However,a certain degree of regional differences has emerged.In the long run,the existence of such regional differences will certainly have a significant impact on social equity and even the overall economic development of Shandong Province.Therefore,it is important to study the region difference of commercial health insurance in Shandong Province,thereby adopt suitable measures to local conditions,which is of great help for the long-term and coordinated development of commercial health insurance,and then promote the economic development of Shandong Province.Based on the literature on commercial health insurance,this paper firstly described and analyzed the current situation and regional differences in the development of commercial health insurance in Shandong Province according to the regional division in the Shandong Peninsula City Cluster Development Plan(2016-2030).Dagum Gini coefficient and its decomposition method were used to measure the regional differences in the development of commercial health insurance and its main sources.The analysis of the factors influencing the development of commercial health insurance was then carried out from four perspectives: economic,policy,social and demographic.At the same time,the six regions were further divided into two categories based on the similarity of the Gini coefficient trends within each region,with Class I comprising Jinan metropolitan area,Dong-Bin metropolitan area and Ji-Zao-He metropolitan area,and Class II comprising Qingdao metropolitan area,Yan-Wei metropolitan area and Lin-Ri metropolitan area.Finally,based on the panel data from 2006-2021,the fixed effect and panel quantile regression models were established to analyze the factors influencing the differences in the development of commercial health insurance across the province and the regions.And concrete and feasible suggestions were put forward for the government and insurance companies.The major findings of this paper are as follows.Firstly,the level of commercial health insurance development in Shandong Province has shown a continuous upward trend.In terms of premium income,Jinan and Qingdao metropolitan areas are significantly higher than the other regions,showing a“center-periphery”distribution.In terms of commercial health insurance density,the clustering trend gradually extends to Dong-Bin and Yan-Wei metropolitan areas,showing a“contiguous”trend.In terms of insurance depth,the regional imbalance gradually eases,with commercial health insurance in Dongying region being less prominent in its economic development.Secondly,for the commercial health insurance in Shandong Province,the overall gap shows a trend of fluctuation and decline.The intra-regional disparities in ClassⅠ region shows a“W-type”cyclical fluctuation trend,while the intra-regional disparities in Class Ⅱ region shows a“downward-rising-downward”characteristic.In recent years,the gap between different regions has stabilized.In Shandong Province,the overall gap is mostly caused by the gap between regions,so the problem of uneven development should be solved by reducing the inter-regional disparity.Thirdly,the variables and effects that significantly affect regional differences in the development of commercial health insurance in Shandong province vary across the sub-points.In the whole province,income and health care levels have a significant positive effect on the development of commercial health insurance,while education level and household size have a significant negative effect on it.And the effect of all four factors increases with the location of the quartile.In Class I regions,the variables,such as income,urbanization and social health care level,have a significant positive effect.But inflation,education level and household size have a significant negative effect.The promotion effect of income and urbanization level gradually decrease as the location of the quartile increases.However,the influence of social health care level,inflation,education level and household size on the development of commercial health insurance is gradually increasing.In Class II regions,income has a significant positive promoting effect.Social medical and health level changes from negative to positive promoting effect.Government health financial expenditure changes from positive to negative inhibiting effect.Inflation has a significant negative inhibiting effect.And the impact of all of them on the development of commercial health insurance is gradually enhanced.Therefore,Shandong provincial government and insurance companies should develop commercial health insurance in accordance with local conditions and regional differentiation in the future.They are also going to truly realize the “governmententerprise cooperation,benefiting the people” by leveraging the government’s encouragement,support,and the main initiative of the market,which will promote the balanced development of high quality commercial health insurance in the province.