Abstract: Based on the provincial panel data of China from 2002 to 2020, this paper conducts a theoretic and empirical analysis of the relationship between industrial catch-up and medical security level. The findings show that the industrial catch-up strategy that violates the comparative advantage will limit the improvement of the level of medical security by damaging the viability of enterprises, reducing the level of medical infrastructure and expanding income inequality. The greater the degree of industrial catch-up, the lower the level of medical security, and the more significant the negative impact on the downstream provinces of the industry will be. Further research reveals that both the integration of basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents and the implementation of the “Healthy China”strategy have a significant positive effect on the level of medical security. At the same time, due to the long-term existence of the distorted costs caused by the legacy of the industrial catch-up strategy, the medical security reform has reached the“critical period”and is constantly digesting the distorted costs. Therefore, it is recommended that all the regions should implement the development strategy of dynamic comparative advantages, enhance the overall planning of medical insurance among different regions, and increase the investment in medical insurance in rural areas, so as to make the overall medical security level of China develop in a more balanced and appropriate manner.

Key words: industrial catch-up, medical security, new structural economics, unbalanced development