Xueyuan Wang

Objective This paper evaluates the effect of National Basic Public Health Services (NBPHS) on the health of internal migrants in China. Study design: The study design used in this research is a cross-sectional study. Methods Data were obtained from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) of 2017, including 150,384 internal migrants at the age of 15–59. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to estimate the effect of NBPHS. Results The findings indicate that NBPHS is successful in improving the health of internal migrants. Different matching algorithms showed the improvement ranging from 2.7 to 2.9 percentage points for the indicator of self-reported health, compared with the reduction of the probability of having disease ranging from 3.3 to 3.7 percentage points in the past year. However, gains are not shared equally. Heterogeneity analysis found significant improvement in the health of patients with hypertension, but the health improvement of diabetics was relatively small. There was also no significant effect on patients with both hypertension and diabetes. Similarly, less improvement was observed in those over 65 years old. Conclusions This research suggests that policymakers should not only pay attention to the equalization of project implementation but also focus on narrowing the benefits gap between different groups of internal migrants. This finding highlights the importance of encouraging more young doctors to provide health services in primary institutions and promoting the sinking of high-quality medical resources.