Introduction: With the rapid development of China's financial markets, the impact of proactive financial policies on household health investment has drawn significant attention, yet little is known about the effects of prudent financial policies on household health expenditures. We examine the effects of a prudent financial policy called the New Asset Management Regulation (NAMR). The policy aims to reduce systemic financial risks by breaking rigid payments and regulating shadow banking. The introduction of the policy expands research in this field.

Methods: This study employs the intensity difference-in-differences (intensity DID) approach, utilizing data from the China Family Panel Studies (2012-2020), to assess the effects of the NAMR. We further construct interaction terms between household existing capital (both tangible and intangible) and the key explanatory variables to test the heterogeneity of the baseline results.

Results: The results show that the regulation significantly affects rural households' medical expenditures (with a 20.5% decrease in guaranteed investment and a 1.3% increase in out-of-pocket payments), but has no significant impact on urban households. Heterogeneity analysis shows urban households' health investment reduces health spending by 0.067%, moderated negatively by tangible assets (property) and positively by intangible assets (business experience, social ties). For households with business experience, a 10% treatment intensity increase raises health spending by 5.4%. A simultaneous 10% treatment intensity and 1-unit transport spending increase boosts health expenditures by 5.8%, revealing how asset types shape urban-rural health spending differences. Furthermore, post-implementation, urban households' education expenditures significantly increased, while migrant households experienced a rise in guaranteed investment and a decline in out-of-pocket payments, though not statistically significant.

Discussion: This study highlights the multifaceted impact of prudent financial policies on household health expenditures across urban and rural areas, underscoring the need for policy formulation to address the distinct needs of urban, rural, and migrant populations, thereby laying a more solid institutional foundation for universal health coverage.

Keywords: China; healthcare; out of pocket expenditures; prudent financial policies; urban–rural disparities.

Copyright © 2025 Zou, Dai and Li.

简介：随着中国金融市场迅速发展，积极金融政策对家庭健康投资的影响已引起广泛关注，然而关于审慎金融政策对家庭健康支出影响的研究还很少。本文研究了一项名为《新资产管理规定》（NAMR）的审慎金融政策对其影响。该政策旨在通过打破刚性兑付和监管影子银行来降低系统性金融风险。这一规定的出台扩展了相关领域的研究。

方法：本研究采用强度差分-差分（intensity DID）方法，利用中国家庭追踪调查数据（2012-2020），评估NAMR对家庭健康支出的影响。我们进一步构建了家庭现有资本（包括有形和无形资产）与关键解释变量之间的交互项，以测试基线结果的异质性。

结果：结果显示，该规定显著影响农村家庭医疗费用（保证投资下降20.5%，自付支出增加1.3%），但对城市家庭没有显著影响。异质性分析显示，城市家庭健康投资减少健康开支0.067%，有形资产（房产）抑制作用负向，无形资产（商业经验、社会联系）促进作用正向。对于拥有商业经验的家庭，治疗强度每增加10%，健康支出上升5.4%。同时，治疗强度和交通支出各增长10%，将使健康开支提高5.8%，揭示了不同类型资产如何塑造城乡健康开支差异。此外，在政策实施后，城市家庭教育支出显著增加，而流动人口家庭的保证投资有所提升，自付支出则有所下降，但统计上不显著。

讨论：本研究强调审慎金融政策对城乡地区家庭健康支出多方面影响的重要性，并指出政策制定需要考虑城市、农村及流动人口的不同需求，从而为全民健康覆盖奠定更加坚实的基础。

关键词：中国；医疗保健；自付费用；审慎金融政策；城乡差异

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