Presented at the Pension, Retirement and Ageing Seminar Series, co-hosted by CEPAR and the UNSW School of Risk and Actuarial Studies
Presentation Date: 27 March 2023
Title: The Impact of Health Insurance on Health Behaviours among Older People: Evidence from Japan
Speaker: Chun Yee (Jenny) Wong (International University Japan)
Abstract: This paper estimates the impacts of the change in coinsurance of health insurance on the health behaviours for older people. In 2014, the Japanese government increased the coinsurance of medical care among citizens aged 70-74. Using data from the Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions in Japan between 2013 and 2016, we deployed the difference-in-differences method to examine the effects of the change in coinsurance on positive and negative health behaviours of older people. We find that a rise in coinsurance increases the positive health behaviors including having balanced diet and doing exercise. However, there is no evidence that risky health behaviors, such as smoking and drinking, decreased as a result of the decline in health insurance coverage.
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