Research On The Poverty Reduction Effect Of Urban And Rural Medical Insurance Co-ordination Policy On Multidimensional Relative Poverty In Rural Areas

Common prosperity is the essential requirement of socialism with Chinese characteristics,and the realization of common prosperity should not only promote fair income distribution,but also equalize basic public services and promote overall social progress,so that all people can share the fruits of development.However,the relative poverty caused by the long-term unbalanced and insufficient development between regions and urban and rural areas has seriously restricted the realization of the goal of common prosperity.The quantity and quality of public medical services in modern society is one of the important indicators of social affluence,and the equalization of basic public medical services of high level and quality has become one of the important elements of common prosperity.In order to narrow the development gap between urban and rural areas and promote the equalization of basic public medical and health services,in January 2016,the State Council issued the Opinions on Integrating the Basic Medical Insurance System for Urban and Rural Residents,stating that the basic medical insurance for urban residents and the new rural cooperative medical insurance should be integrated into a unified basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents.However,has the promotion of urban-rural health insurance integration truly narrowed the imbalance and insufficiency between urban and rural development,and can relative rural poverty be effectively managed? In-depth study of these questions is of great practical significance for managing relative poverty and promoting common prosperity.This thesis takes a multidimensional perspective to understand relative poverty and constructs a relative poverty indicator system that includes six dimensions of income,health,education,housing,living standard,and subjective welfare.After analyzing the current situation of multidimensional relative poverty in rural areas in China using the A-F method,we investigate the impact of the urban-rural health insurance policy on multidimensional relative poverty with the help of double difference score(DID)and propensity score matching-double difference score(PSM-DID),and analyze the path of its effect,and further compare the differences of its policy effect among different groups and regions.The findings are as follows:First,the analysis of the double difference model and the propensity score matching-double difference model shows that the integrated urban-rural health insurance policy can significantly reduce rural multidimensional relative poverty.Second,the empirical results of this thesis pass the robustness tests of replacing the PSM matching method,changing the weights of multidimensional relative poverty indicators,two-stage least squares estimation of instrumental variables,excluding the effects of other policies,and random treatment groups,further indicating that the policy effect of urban-rural health insurance coordination on rural multidimensional relative poverty is reliable.Third,the path of action analysis shows that the urban-rural health insurance coordination policy alleviates rural multidimensional relative poverty through three channels: reducing the burden of medical care,increasing the level of labor supply,and increasing human capital investment.Fourth,the heterogeneity analysis of different multidimensional relative poverty levels shows that there is no "elite capture" effect of the urban and rural medical insurance coordination policy,but the protection of the basic medical needs of the extremely poor should be strengthened;the analysis of regional heterogeneity shows that the policy effect of urban-rural health insurance coordination is stronger in western rural areas than in eastern and central rural areas.Based on the findings,this thesis puts forward policy recommendations for promoting the high-quality development of China’s social medical insurance system and managing relative poverty: First,continue to improve China’s urban and rural basic medical insurance system and establish a nationwide unified management network.Second,accelerate the construction of a nationally unified medical and health information platform to promote the shared development of basic public medical services.Third,promote the tilting of medical and health service resources to rural areas.Fourth,strengthen the legal protection of the basic medical insurance system in rural areas.Fifth,form a long-term mechanism for managing relative poverty through health insurance policies,but also establish special medical assistance measures for socially vulnerable groups.