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Absence of appropriate hospitalization cost control for patients with medical insurance: a comparative analysis study
Author(s) -
Pan Xilong,
Dib Hassan H.,
Zhu Minmin,
Zhang Ying,
Fan Yang
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.1421
Subject(s) - medicine , medical insurance , medical expenses , payment , health insurance , logistic regression , government (linguistics) , marital status , actuarial science , emergency medicine , health care , business , finance , environmental health , economics , linguistics , philosophy , population , economic growth
Objective : Expose the weak loops in the Chinese medical insurance coverage and uncover hospitals' role of over‐pricing hospitalized insured patients compared with those non‐insured. Methods : A multi‐linear regression method was used to analyze hospitalization expense for insured and uninsured patients with uncomplicated acute appendicitis , cholecystitis , benign uterine tumors , and normal delivery . Results : Hospitalization cost is higher among insured than uninsured patients due to longer hospitalization lengths of stay, type of disease (highest among cholecystitis patients), type of gender – females, old‐aged people, and type of marital status – singles, as well as drugs expenses, surgical expenses, and other medical acts. Conclusion : Require a better government's supervision system over medical insurance expenses such as reforming methods of payments, building up new cost compensation mechanism, and unifying and stabilizing prices for each category of medicines. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.