Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.10, 2013

On the Efficiency of the Allocation of Limited Medical Resources across All Disease Categories

(Abstract)

Yu Qiao, Du Xiuli and Zhao Changwen et al.

The essence of the medicare system is to ensure an efficient allocation of limited medical resources. Based on the analytical framework of resource allocation across all disease categories, this study presents an empirical test of datasets gathered from an ultra-large sample of inpatient cases in two typical cities in eastern and western China. The results reveal that increasing clinical medical spending can remarkably improve the medical outcome of almost all disease categories, that medical spending has produced significantly different marginal effects on different disease categories, that medical spending has had a significantly higher marginal effect on rural patients than on urban ones, and that some deficiencies in the basic medical insurance system have offset the effects of medical investment. Therefore, China should increase considerably its basic medicare spending on the public, and should allocate incremental resources across disease categories in an efficient way. Basic medical insurance has remarkable effects on resource allocation.