Health inequality and health insurance coverage: the United States and China compared

Costa-Font, Joan ORCID: 0000-0001-7174-7919, Cowell, Frank and Shi, Xuezhu (2024) Health inequality and health insurance coverage: the United States and China compared. Economics and Human Biology, 52. ISSN 1570-677X

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Abstract

We study inequality in the distribution of self-assessed health (SAH) in the United States and China, two large countries that have expanded their insurance provisions in recent decades, but that lack universal coverage and differ in other social determinants of health. Using comparable health survey data from China and the United States, we compare health inequality trends throughout the period covering the public health insurance coverage expansions in the two countries. We find that whether SAH inequality is greater in the US or in China depends on the concept of status and the inequality-sensitivity parameter used; however, the regional pattern of SAH inequality is clearly associated with health-insurance coverage expansions in the US but not significant in China.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/economics-an...
Additional Information:	© 2023 Elsevier B.V.
Divisions:	Health Policy Economics
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
JEL classification:	I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare and Poverty > I30 - General I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I18 - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D63 - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
Date Deposited:	18 Dec 2023 12:03
Last Modified:	05 Feb 2024 11:00
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/121099

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