Objectives: Large-scale rural-to-urban migration in China has stimulated heated discussion about rural migrants' poor health status. This article reports the first study in China that compares the aggregate-level change in self-rated health of rural migrants between 2005 and 2015, and explores whether the difference, if any, can be explained by their different public health insurance enrollment status due to China's health reforms in the late 2000s. It also explores whether the aggregate-level change in migrants' self-rated health differs across different education levels. Methods: Logistic regression models using pooled repeated cross-sectional data of the 2005 and 2015 China General Social Survey from 2688 rural-to-urban migrants. Results: Rural migrants' self-rated health has significantly improved from 2005 to 2015. This can be by explained by their different health insurance enrollment status. However, such improvement is particularly pronounced for migrants with higher education levels. Conclusions: Whereas China's recent health reforms have been overall effective in improving rural migrants' health, these policies might lead to health inequalities within rural migrants in favor of those with higher education levels. © 2018 PNG Publications.All Rights Reserved.

China Rural-to-urban migrants Education level Health reform self-rated health

education urban population China insurance health disparity Health Status Disparities health insurance human epidemiology Insurance Coverage middle aged rural population controlled study health status Cross-Sectional Studies cross-sectional study migrant Humans male female Review adult human experiment migration Transients and Migrants Healthcare Disparities health care disparity differentiation