Analysis of the financing policy of integrating NCMS and URBMI:Based on the perspective of equity / 中国卫生政策研究

ABSTRACT

Objectives:This paper intends to analyze the financing policies of integrating NCMS and URBMI in terms of equity. Methods:Data on the financing of NCMS and URBMI from 2008 to 2015 were collected from the China health statistics yearbook (2009—2012) the China health and Family Planning Statistics yearbook(2013—2016),the National Handbook of NCMS Information(2008—2015),the China human resources and social security statistics year-book (2009—2016),and the China social security yearbook(2009—2015)."Ability to pay"approach was introduced to measure the inequity in health financing of medical insurance for urban and rural residents. The proportion of indi-vidual contributions as to NCMS and URBMI as a percentage of the per capita disposable income was used as an actual indicator to analyze the equity in health financing between rural and urban residents. Results:The URBMI had a finan-cing mechanism that was similar to that used by NCMS in that public finance accounted for more than three quarters of the pooling funds,and the individual contribution accounts for less than? of the per capita contribution amount. The scale of financing for NCMS was less than 5% of the per capita net income of rural residents and less than 2% of the per capita disposable income of urban residents for URBMI. Individual contributions to the NCMS and URBMI funds were less than 1% of their disposable and net incomes. The disparities in health financing between urban and rural resi-dents in China was not improved as expected with the introduction of NCMS and URBMI. Conclusions:The proportion of individual contributions to the URBMI and NCMS funds were small in terms of contributors'incomes. The equal financing per capita for URBMI and NCMS masks the inequality of urban and rural residents in the financing of medical insurance.