Health Insurance and Health Status: Exploring the Causal Effect from a Policy Intervention.

Whether health insurance matters for health has long been a central issue for debate when assessing the full value of health insurance coverage in both developed and developing countries. In 2007, the government-led Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URBMI) program was piloted in China, followed by a nationwide implementation in 2009. Different premium subsidies by government across cities and groups provide a unique opportunity to employ the instrumental variables estimation approach to identify the causal effects of health insurance on health. Using a national panel survey of the URBMI, we find that URBMI beneficiaries experience statistically better health than the uninsured. Furthermore, the insurance health benefit appears to be stronger for groups with disadvantaged education and income than for their counterparts. In addition, the insured receive more and better inpatient care, without paying more for services.