Understanding China's Health care Reform in a Global Context.

The health care system of the People's Republic of China has undergone significant change over the last decades. Much of the literature has focused on the internal dynamics of change. In this paper we week to understand Chinese health care reforms since the 1980s in a global context. We first examine the health care system in China from the Maoist era to the reform period. We find that the health care system in China - a self-proclaimed socialist country - has become one of the least socialist in the world. We then attempt to explain the evolution of China's health care system in the last three decades, paying special attention to the impact of external factors on China's policy choices. We argue that international norms and China's development strategy vis-à-vis the global economy have profoundly shaped the its health care system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]