Abstract: Based on the Chinese Labor-force Dynamic Survey data in 2014 and 2016, this paper built the difference-in-difference model to analyze the impact of Urban and Rural Medical Insurance System on the medical burden of urban and rural residents. The results show that the implementation of the Urban and Rural Medical Insurance System will increase the medical expenditure of low-income rural residents rather than share of the medical expenditure in total expense. The policy has reduced the medical burden of middle-income rural residents. However, high income community and urban residents are less subject to economic constraints, their medical consumption is hardly affected by the medical insurance. the improvement of medical insurance treatment has alleviated the medical burden of the medium-to-income rural residents. The regression results by medical expenditure group also show that the current medical insurance system could not share the pressure of medical treatment for families with heavy medical burden. Therefore, from the perspective of policy making, we should improve the medical insurance treatment for serious diseases and reduce the pressure of medical treatment for people with heavy burden to avoid the occurrence of poverty caused by diseases.

Key words: urban and rural medical insurance system, medical burden, difference-in-differences model