China is facing challenges of the increasing incidence of some chronic diseases. However, the share of government spending on health in total kept fairing during the economic transition and the cost of health care has...China is facing challenges of the increasing incidence of some chronic diseases. However, the share of government spending on health in total kept fairing during the economic transition and the cost of health care has been rising dramatically. Using the data at the provincial level, I find that income and population aging are significant determinants of increasing health expenditure. Time dummies contribute more than 40% in the growth of health expenditure and nearly one-third in the growth rate of health expenditure, which implies that technological and institutional changes are also very important drivers in China. In the future, the rising of health expenditure is a necessary response to income growth and population aging; but there is still plenty of room to cut the cost through reforming the health care sector.展开更多
基金The author is grateful for financial support from the National Science Foundation of China（70573024, 70973027 ）
文摘China is facing challenges of the increasing incidence of some chronic diseases. However, the share of government spending on health in total kept fairing during the economic transition and the cost of health care has been rising dramatically. Using the data at the provincial level, I find that income and population aging are significant determinants of increasing health expenditure. Time dummies contribute more than 40% in the growth of health expenditure and nearly one-third in the growth rate of health expenditure, which implies that technological and institutional changes are also very important drivers in China. In the future, the rising of health expenditure is a necessary response to income growth and population aging; but there is still plenty of room to cut the cost through reforming the health care sector.
