Assessing the Effect of Public Transfer Payments on the Vulnerability of Health Care Poverty in Rural Households in China

Abstract

Background Since the 18th National Congress, China has completed the task of eliminating absolute poverty. However, the risk of health care for potential sub-health workers and the elderly in rural households has also increased, and government public transfer payments play an important role in reducing the vulnerability of rural families to health care poverty. Assessing the effectiveness of government public transfer payments in reducing the vulnerability of rural families to health care poverty will help the public sector to develop more accurate policies to meet the different needs of rural households for health care. Methods The data were derived from the 3rd 、4th and 5th National Survey of the China Family Panel Studies conducted in 2010. The annual study sample was 5,574 rural households, with a total sample of 16,722 rural households during the three-year study period. We assess and compare the multidimensional poverty and the vulnerability to health care poverty of rural households. Two series of multivariate logistic regression models were further undertaken to assess the effect of government public transfer payments before and after adding the income elasticity of health care needs on improving the vulnerability of rural families to health care poverty. Results The study found that when setting the poverty line at $1.90 and $3.20, rural households in the three research years expected a higher vulnerability to health care poverty than their actual incidence of multidimensional poverty in health care, and higher poverty vulnerability in the eastern region than in the western region. A series of multivariate logistic models evaluated the effect of government public transfer payment on improving the vulnerability of rural health care poverty and found that it is difficult for the government to fulfill the effect of public transfer payment without considering the difference of rural households' demand for health care. Conclusions At present, the imbalance of development between urban and rural areas in China is increasing, and rural families with heavy economic burdens are facing the risk of sub-health such as potential chronic illness. Our analysis emphasizes the importance of government departments in improving the targeting of public transfer payments to reduce the vulnerability of health care poverty in rural households.