Social Health Insurance Difference in Inpatient Expenditure and Service Category in China

China successfully achieved universal health insurance coverage in 2011. Previous work on the effects of social health insurance in China has overlooked the association between health insurance and inpatient service category as well as the mechanisms of institutional characteristics. This study seeks to estimate the social health insurance difference in inpatient expenditure and service category. The role of institutional characteristics was also studied. The logistic model was applied to estimate the association of social health insurance and service category. In addition, Heckman Selected Model and generalized linear model were used to examine the association of health insurance and inpatient expenditure. Estimations were done for 4076 individuals older than 45 years using pooled cross-sectional survey data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study conducted in 2011 and 2013. Patients with health insurance were more likely to spend more and receive more types of inpatient service. This relationship was partially explained by the institutional characteristics. Therefore, this study highlights the importance of enforcing the regulation of referral mechanisms, the tiered copayment requirement to guide people's care-seeking behavior, and reforming the allocation of limited health resources between different levels of facilities and also between private and public hospitals.