Article

Health insurance and subjective well-being: evidence from integrating medical insurance across urban and rural areas in China

Author

Qin Zhou, Associate Professor, School of Public Administration and Policy, RUC

Abstract

Health insurance coverage and the risk protection it provides may improve enrollees’ subjective well-being, as demonstrated for example by Oregon Medicaid’s randomized expansion significantly improving enrollees’ mental health and happiness. Yet little evidence from low- and middle-incomen countries documents the link between insurance coverage and subjective well-being. We analyze individual-level data on a large natural experiment in China: the integration of the rural and urban resident health insurance programs. This reform, expanded nationally since 2016, is recognized as a vital step toward attaining the goal of providing affordable and equitable basic healthcare in China, because integration raises the level of healthcare coverage for rural residents to that enjoyed by their urban counterparts. This study is the first to investigate the impact of urban-rural health insurance integration on the subjective well-being of the Chinese population. Analyzing 2011-2018 data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study in a difference-in-difference (DID) framework with variation in the treatment timing, we find that the integration policy significantly improved the life satisfaction of rural residents, especially among low-income and elderly individuals. The positive impact of the integration on subjective well-being appears to stem from the improvement of rural residents’ mental health (decrease in depressive symptoms) and associated increases in some health behaviors, as well as a mild increase in outpatient care utilization and financial risk protection. There was no discernible impact of the integration on subjective well-being among urban residents, suggesting that the reform reduced inequality in healthcare access and health outcomes for poorer rural residents without negative spillovers on their urban counterparts.

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