| Abstract: | China's health care reform of the 1990s has not yielded much success. The market‐oriented health system has resulted in declines in fairness of health services and efficiency of investment in the health sector. Further health care reform will be required. Among many options, asset‐based policy has demonstrated some potential in domestic policy development. To provide evidence to inform health policy development in China, this study focuses on the effects of household assets on health in China. Specifically, the current study examines how household assets may affect health status and how assets differ from income in predicting health status. Using a random sample of Chinese elderly, we find that asset holding in the form of household durables and household utilities has both direct and indirect effects on health status. Household assets directly affect access to medical care and indirectly affect health by influencing health behaviour and psychological condition. In other words, in addition to economic effects, household assets appear to have behavioural and psychological effects on health. Interestingly, these effects appear to be associated with assets, but not with income. Implications for asset building policy are suggested as a complement to existing health care models. 中国自20世纪90年代开始的卫生保健改革还没有取得很大成功。市场主导的医疗系统使卫生部门提供的健康服务无论在公平性和效率都有所下降。进一步的医疗保健改革是需要的。在众多的选择当中,以资产为基础的政策已显示出一定的潜力。为向中国的卫生政策发展提供证据,这项研究的重点是家庭资产在中国对健康的影响。具体来说,目前的研究探讨家庭资产如何影响健康状况,以及资产如何不同于收入来预测健康状况。作者用随机抽样的方法研究中国的老年人,发现家庭耐用消费品和家庭水电费都直接和间接影响健康状况。家庭资产直接影响到能否获得医疗照顾和间接影响有关影响健康的行为和心理状态。换言之,除了经济影响,家庭资产似乎对行为和心理健康有所影响。有趣的是,这些影响似乎是与资产相关,而并非收入。作者建议以资产建设政策补充现有的医疗保健模式。 |
