Public hospital reform, family health consumption and health inequality: evidence from China Family Panel Studies

BackgroundIn 2017, China launched a comprehensive reform of public hospitals and eliminated drug markups, aiming to solve the problem of expensive medical treatment and allow poor and low-income people to enjoy basic health opportunities. This study attempts to evaluate the policy impact of public hospital reform on the health inequality of Chinese residents and analyze its micro-level mechanism from the perspective of household consumption structure. Studying the inherent causal connection between public hospital reform and health inequality is of paramount significance for strengthening China’s healthcare policies, system design, raising the average health level of Chinese residents, and achieving the goal of ensuring a healthy life for individuals of all age groups.MethodsBased on the five waves of data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted in 2012–2020, We incorporates macro-level statistical indicators such as the time of public hospital reforms, health insurance surplus, and aging, generating 121,447 unbalanced panel data covering 27 provinces in China for five periods. This data was used to explore the impact of public hospital reform on health inequality. Log