Influence of China's Overall Planning for Urban and Rural Medical Insurance on Citizen Health.

We conducted this study to make an empirical test of the influence of China's overall planning for urban and rural medical insurance on citizen health. Using the data of the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS) 2018, self-rated health was chosen as the proxy variable of citizen health status, and the obvious heterogeneity of the influence was measured by the ordered logit model. After participating in the unified urban-rural medical insurance, the probability for citizens' self-rated health to increase by one or more levels grew by 0.21 times (OR = 1.21, p = .004). Further analysis revealed that after participating in the unified urban-rural medical insurance, the probability for males' self-rated health to increase by one or more levels grew by 0.23 times (OR = 1.23, p = .022); the probability for females' self- rated health to increase by one or more levels grew by 0.22 times (OR = 1.22, p = .045); the probability for rural citizens' self-rated health to increase by one or more levels grew by 0.25 times (OR = 1.25, p = .006); and, the probability for eastern China's citizens' self-rated health to increase by one or more levels grew by 0.28 times (OR = 1.28, p = .007). Participating in the unified urban-rural medical insurance program had a greater positive impact on the self-rated health of males than of females, on rural residents versus urban residents, and on eastern residents than central and western residents.