REP Research Seminar - Presenting in person - Dr Jing Guan, Loughborough University and Beijing Technology and Business University. Title: Improving children's health outcomes: "The effect of China's Urban and Rural Basic Medical Insurance".

Abstract:

Although the impact of introducing social medical insurance schemes has attracted considerable research interest, less attention has been paid to the consolidation of such policies and their effect on the children population. This paper estimates the effect on children’s health of the Chinese Urban and Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URRBMI), which was gradually implemented across Chinese provinces. Using recent econometric methods that avoid the problem of negative weights associated with staggered treatments, we find that the URRBMI policy reduced sickness frequency without raising hospital use while lowering costs. It also improved satisfaction, increased insurance participation, and strengthened human capital indicators. We find a more significant effect of the policy on children’s health in males and those living in urban areas, whereas the positive impact on rural children takes longer to emerge. The results are robust to different econometric approaches and variable definitions.

Bio:

Dr. Jing Guan (she/her), is an Associate Professor and Vice Dean of the School of Economics, at Beijing Technology and Business University. Dr. Guan was a visiting scholar of the Economics group, at the University of Liverpool (2017-18) and is currently a visiting researcher at the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough, University.