Abstract:

The issue of equity in healthcare distribution is attracting more and more attention in China in recent years. Although inequity in Chinese residents' healthcare utilization has been studied by some scholars, there is no formal test of its existence and patterns. As an attempt to fill in this gap, a test based upon regression analysis that is consistent with the underlying meaning of equity in healthcare utilization is posed. From a censored model estimated by CLAD using the survey data from China Health & Nutrition Survey in 2006, it is found that need for healthcare is the main determinant of individual healthcare consumption. And it turns out that income significantly affects individual healthcare consumption whereas residential area (urban or rural) does not, which implies thatthere is indeed inequity in healthcare utilization in China and that the inequity takes the form of inequity between the poor and the rich. Robust conclusions from our empirical study offer some implications for the on–going reform of healthcare system in China.

Keywords: healthcare utilization, inequity, CLAD, income, urban/rural residence