Abstract Based on data from the 2019 China Household Finance Survey, the paper uses multiple methods such as OLS, Logit Model and 3SLS to examine the impact of payment digitalization on farmers’ medical insurance participation and explore the role of the two in promoting equity of urban and rural health benefits. The results indicate the following: Firstly, the digitization of payments has significantly increased medical insurance participation among rural residents, with a stronger promoting effect on the elderly population and rural migrant workers; Secondly, digitization of payments can alleviate information asymmetry in medical insurance participation, enhance the accessibility and health literacy of rural residents regarding medical insurance, and thereby increase their willingness to participate; Thirdly, digitization of payments narrows the urban-rural health gap, contributing to equitable health benefits between urban and rural areas. Medical insurance participation and access to healthcare services are procedural pathways through which digitization of payments promotes equitable health benefits. However, considering medical insurance participation under both the New Rural Cooperative Medical Insurance System and the Urban and Rural Residents Basic Medical Insurance System simultaneously exacerbates urban-rural health inequalities. In contrast, solely considering medical insurance participation under the Urban and Rural Residents Basic Medical Insurance System exhibits better equity, highlighting the importance of integrating these two systems; Fourthly, the digitization of payments also has an income effect on rural households’ participation in commercial medical insurance, demonstrating the complementary nature of China’s current social medical insurance and commercial medical insurance. Based on the aforementioned conclusions, it is necessary to comprehensively enhance the level of digitization in rural areas and actively promote online processing for medical insurance participation and changes. Additionally, it is imperative to accelerate the integration of medical insurance for urban and rural residents, thereby achieving equalization of medical insurance services between urban and rural areas.
WEI Qinwen,ZHANG Yongfeng,LU Yao. Digitalization, Farmers’ Participation in Medical Insurance and Equity in Urban and Rural Health Benefits. Economic Survey, 2024, 41(5): 053.
2024, Vol. 41 
