Financing Health in China: Theory & Institutions

Abstract

Summary An important issue that China faces as its economy gradually moves from one that is based on central planning to one in which resource allocation is determined to a great extent through the market mechanism, is what role the market mechanism should be allowed to play in the health care sector. The three essays in this thesis address different aspects of this question. In essay 1, on Physician Dual Practice, the effects of allowing physicians employed in government hospitals to practice privately are analyzed, while essay 2, on Health Financing Reform and Fiscal Decentralization, considers the question whether it is likely that local governments in China will allow private insurance plan to compete on equal terms with the publicly-sponsored social insurance plans. Essay 3, Health System Reform in China: An Assessment of Recent Trends, provides general background on recent trends in Chinese health care policy, and raises the question to whether an expanded role for markets and the private sector might have a useful role in China?s future health care system.