Analysis On Status And Influencing Factors On Peasants' Inputs Of Health Care

Health has positive significance to the human capital accumulation. Health care and medical services are two approaches of health investment. Health care primarily reduces the possibility of illness by daily medical examinations and a healthy lifestyle, and further improves the stock of health on the basis of existing level of health; while medical services primarily make the patients recover from their illness through medical means. However, most people in the society often believe medical service is the only way to invest in health and neglect the function of health care in health investment. It is not economic for social development and it does not meet theoretical requirements of modem health economics, either. Domestic existing research emphasizes on the factors of affecting peasants' general level of the health and the accumulated function of health investment in human capital, but people seldom analyze how preventive health care affects peasants' health. Based on the existing analytic framework and the survey data in Shandong Province, this dissertation will make an empirical analysis on how health care affects the health condition and the relevant factors of affecting peasants' healthy inputs, what's more, this dissertation will also make an analysis on what makes Chinese peasants invest in health care conservatively on the basis of empirical results, so as to explore more conducive theoretical supports and practical bases to improve peasants' health status.According to the investigations on the health status of peasants in Shandong Province, the dissertation has discovered that there exist some common low inputs in the personal life style and physical health care of peasants. On the basis of the related data, this paper has formed the logistic regression model and made an empirical research. The results have showed that the main factors of affecting peasants' health condition include: medical expenses, age, educational status, primary health care and indirect health care, family income and so on. Among all the main factors, primary health care and indirect health care play the most significant roles in peasants' health conditions. Therefore, increasing inputs in health care is conducive to improve the health status of farmers. In addition, the dissertation also has made an empirical analysis to the relevant factors of affecting peasants' health conditions in order to explore the underlying reasons of peasants' conservative inputs in health care. The results have showed that the main factors of affecting peasants' inputs in health care are family income levels and educational status. Lower levels of farmers' family incomes and educational status prohibit them from concentrating on health care. However, because of the survey data limitations, this dissertation hasn't quantified the community economic conditions, community health conditions and other factors. In that case, these factors of affecting peasants' health care could not be properly reflected.This dissertation has come to a conclusion: to reduce health-care investment is a suboptimal choice of peasants who are under the restraints of lower-level of family incomes and educational status. Because of absolute low-level of family incomes, farmers will be forced to purchase of the largest profit from medical services. The soaring price of health care increases the peasants' uncertainty of inputs in health care. What's more, farmers are cautious of their own consumption. If they cannot see the expected health benefits easily, they will reduce the current health care investment and strengthen the preventive savings. At the same time, the general low-level of farmers' educational status makes them lack awareness of their own health conditions. What's worse, these farmers have little access to gain health knowledge for lack of relevant education in rural areas. Therefore, in order to improve the health conditions of farmers, we must increase the family incomes of peasants and also strengthen rural public health facilities constructions and health education inputs. And we should bring the indirect health care, such as physical examinations into the new cooperative medical care system in rural areas.