[Determinants of household healthcare expenditure of rural floating population in Beijing: a Tobit model approach].

OBJECTIVE

To explain the household healthcare expenditure among the rural floating population in Beijing and analyze the determinants of a household total healthcare consumption.

METHODS

The data came from the special investigation about rural floating population in Beijing which is part of The Fourth National Health Service Investigation of China. A total of 4 698-native rural migrants (2,728 families) in Beijing were chosen as subjects and a Tobit model was used to analyze the data. Base on the censored characteristics, we use the censored least absolute deviations (CLAD) method to estimate the parameters.

RESULTS

Compared with the general urban population, the population under investigation has a high proportion of male and unmarried, but low educated group of young people. The average household healthcare expenditure per month was 21.26 Yuan, and about 74% of the households had made no healthcare expenditure 3 months preceding the survey. The household healthcare expenditure was influenced by the household's education level, household's income level, household size, Engel's coefficient, head's choice of medical institutions and so on.

CONCLUSION

The level of household healthcare expenditure is low with the determinants in the floating population, such as the household's economic circumstances and so on. We should make and develop relevant policies and improve the healthcare utilization of the floating population.