Abstract: The Comprehensive medical reform pilot policy is a core pillar of China’s deepening healthcare system reform and the implementation of the "Healthy China" strategy. Existing research primarily focuses on analyzing the direct effects of this policy on healthcare service levels and medical costs, with limited attention given to its impact on addressing health opportunity inequality. To address this gap, this study utilizes micro-level data from the 2010-2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and provincial macro data, employing the difference-in-differences method to empirically test the impact of the comprehensive medical reform pilot policy on health opportunity inequality. The findings indicate that the comprehensive healthcare reform pilot policy significantly reduced health opportunity inequality, a conclusion that remains robust after a series of sensitivity tests. Mechanism analysis reveals that the policy enhances the affordability and accessibility of healthcare services for disadvantaged groups by reducing medical costs and alleviating imbalances in healthcare resource allocation, thereby promoting health opportunity equality among residents. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the policy’s effects are more pronounced among low-income groups, urban residents, non-migrant populations, and residents in the central and western regions. Furthermore, the study finds that the comprehensive healthcare reform synergizes with public health investment, not only improving the overall health level of residents but also resulting in non-health benefits such as reducing family poverty, boosting consumer spending, and increasing educational investment. To further reduce health inequality, it is essential to enhance the demonstrative effect of the comprehensive medical reform pilot policy, optimize the allocation of medical resources, strengthen the primary healthcare service system, and develop an integrated healthcare service model that covers the entire lifecycle.

Key words: comprehensive medical reform pilot, inequality of health opportunities, medical treatment cost, medical resource allocation, inclusive benefits