Does Health Insurance Coverage Lead to Better Health and Educational Outcomes? Evidence from Rural China / Yuyu Chen, Ginger Zhe Jin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chen, Yuyu.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Jin, Ginger Zhe.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w16417.

NBER working paper series no. w16417

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2010.

Summary:

Using 2006 China Agricultural Census (CAC), we examine whether the introduction of the New Cooperative Medical System (NCMS) has affected child mortality, maternal mortality, and school enrollment of the 6-16 years olds. Our data cover 5.9 million people living in eight low-income rural counties, of which four adopted the NCMS by 2006 and four did not adopt it until 2007.

Raw data suggest that enrolling in NCMS is associated with better school enrollment and lower mortality of young children and pregnant women. However, using a difference-in-difference propensity score method, we find most of these differences are driven by the endogenous introduction and take-up of NCMS, and out method overcomes classical propensity score matching's failure to address the selection bias. While the NCMS does not affect child mortality and maternal mortality, it does help improve the school enrollment of six-year-olds.

Notes:

Print version record

September 2010.