How government insurance coverage changed the utilization and affordability of expensive targeted anti-cancer medicines in China: An interrupted time-series study

Abstract

Background Evidence is lacking about the impact of emerging government health insurance coverage inclusion on patient utilization and affordability of expensive anti-cancer medicines and insurance sustainability in China. Methods Using an interrupted time series design, we conducted segmented regression analyses of utilization changes of targeted anti-cancer medicines covered by the provincial government health insurance program during 2013 to 2016 in 69 hospitals with more than 100 beds in Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang province of China. The WHO/Health Action International Project on Medicine Prices and Availability methodology was used to measure patient affordability of the study medicines. Results In March 2015, the utilization of all study medicines increased by 15.58 (95% CI = 3.86, 27.30, P = 0.01) to 439.14 standard units (95% CI = 311.79, 566.49, P < 0.001). Before covered by government health insurance, the estimated out-of-pocket payment by patient ranged from 3.0 to 13.1 times of the provincial average disposable annual income per capita for urban residents, and 6.2 to 27.3 times for rural residents. Such payments were reduced to 0.6 to 2.1 times for urban residents and 1.8 to 4.4 times for rural residents after government health insurance coverage inclusion. During 2015 to 2016, the per capita contribution to Hangzhou catastrophic health insurance program was CNY15 (US$ 2.3), and the reimbursement rate was 70% in Hangzhou city. The cumulative total insurance expenses on six study targeted anticancer medicines accounted for an estimated 53% of the total amount of premiums of the government catastrophic health insurance fund. Sensitivity analyses indicated that this proportion would have changed to 46%, 61% and 69% when changing the per capita contribution to CNY25 (US$ 3.8) and CNY40 (US$ 6.2), and changing the insurance reimbursement rate to 60%, 80 and 90%. Conclusion Government health insurance coverage inclusion significantly increased utilization of the expensive targeted anti-cancer medicines, and improved patient affordability. However, the financial burden of patients is still high, especially for the rural low-income population. Rising utilization and expenditures call for careful monitoring of anti-cancer medicines use, and for strategies to decrease prices to facilitate medicines access and keep the insurance system sustainable.