Health Insurance Coverage and Its Impact on Medical Cost: Observations from the Floating Population in China

BACKGROUND China has the world's largest floating (migrant) population, which has characteristics largely different from the rest of the population. Our goal is to study health insurance coverage and its impact on medical cost for this population. METHODS A telephone survey was conducted in 2012. 644 subjects were surveyed. Univariate and multivariate analysis were conducted on insurance coverage and medical cost. RESULTS 82.2% of the surveyed subjects were covered by basic insurance at hometowns with hukou or at residences. Subjects' characteristics including age, education, occupation, and presence of chronic diseases were associated with insurance coverage. After controlling for confounders, insurance coverage was not significantly associated with gross or out-of-pocket medical cost. CONCLUSION For the floating population, health insurance coverage needs to be improved. Policy interventions are needed so that health insurance can have a more effective protective effect on cost.