Can Social Health Insurance Improve Mental Health? An Analysis of Supplementary High-Cost Illness Insurance in China.

IF 4.8 2区医学 Q1 GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY

Journals of Gerontology Series B-Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences Pub Date : 2024-10-01 DOI:10.1093/geronb/gbae139

Yaru Zhang, Wei Yang, Siqian Zhang, Zexuan Yu, Jiajia Li

{"title":"Can Social Health Insurance Improve Mental Health? An Analysis of Supplementary High-Cost Illness Insurance in China.","authors":"Yaru Zhang, Wei Yang, Siqian Zhang, Zexuan Yu, Jiajia Li","doi":"10.1093/geronb/gbae139","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Objectives: China introduced an innovative Supplementary High-Cost Illness Insurance (SHCII) program to enhance existing social health insurance by providing extra financial support for individuals facing catastrophic illnesses in 2015. The SHCII has notably increased access to healthcare and alleviated financial strain for economically disadvantaged individuals. However, there is a lack of information regarding the program's impact on the mental health of its beneficiaries. This study aims to assess the impact of SHCII on the mental well-being of middle-aged and older individuals.Methods: Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018), this study examined how SHCII affects mental health among middle-aged and older individuals in China using propensity score matching with the time-varying difference-in-differences method.Results: We found that SHCII implementation can significantly reduce the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale scores of middle-aged and older individuals. This reduction was more pronounced among older individuals with poor self-rated health, chronic disease, and low household wealth when compared to their counterparts.Discussion: The implementation of SHCII has had a significant and positive impact on mental health outcomes. We recommend that governments consider expanding the program to other areas within China, focusing especially on the most economically disadvantaged segments of the population.","PeriodicalId":56111,"journal":{"name":"Journals of Gerontology Series B-Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journals of Gerontology Series B-Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbae139","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives: China introduced an innovative Supplementary High-Cost Illness Insurance (SHCII) program to enhance existing social health insurance by providing extra financial support for individuals facing catastrophic illnesses in 2015. The SHCII has notably increased access to healthcare and alleviated financial strain for economically disadvantaged individuals. However, there is a lack of information regarding the program's impact on the mental health of its beneficiaries. This study aims to assess the impact of SHCII on the mental well-being of middle-aged and older individuals.

Methods: Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018), this study examined how SHCII affects mental health among middle-aged and older individuals in China using propensity score matching with the time-varying difference-in-differences method.

Results: We found that SHCII implementation can significantly reduce the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale scores of middle-aged and older individuals. This reduction was more pronounced among older individuals with poor self-rated health, chronic disease, and low household wealth when compared to their counterparts.

Discussion: The implementation of SHCII has had a significant and positive impact on mental health outcomes. We recommend that governments consider expanding the program to other areas within China, focusing especially on the most economically disadvantaged segments of the population.

查看原文本刊更多论文

社会医疗保险能改善心理健康吗？对中国高额疾病补充保险的分析。

目标：中国于 2015 年推出了创新性的高额疾病补充保险（SHCII）计划，通过为面临重大疾病的个人提供额外的经济支持来加强现有的社会医疗保险。高额疾病补充保险显著提高了医疗服务的可及性，缓解了经济困难人群的经济压力。然而，有关该计划对受益人心理健康影响的信息却十分匮乏。本研究旨在评估社保二期对中老年人心理健康的影响：本研究利用中国健康与退休纵向研究（CHARLS；2011、2013、2015 和 2018 年）的数据，采用倾向得分匹配和时变差分法（DID），研究了小康指标II 如何影响中国中老年人的心理健康：结果：我们发现，实施 SHCII 可以显著降低中老年人的流行病学研究中心抑郁量表（CESD-10）得分。与同龄人相比，自我评估健康状况较差、患有慢性疾病和家庭财富较少的中老年人的得分降低更为明显：讨论：SHCII 的实施对心理健康结果产生了显著而积极的影响。我们建议政府考虑将该项目推广到中国的其他地区，尤其是经济条件最差的人群。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journals of Gerontology Series B-Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 医学-老年医学

CiteScore

11.60

自引率

8.10%

发文量

178

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： The Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences publishes articles on development in adulthood and old age that advance the psychological science of aging processes and outcomes. Articles have clear implications for theoretical or methodological innovation in the psychology of aging or contribute significantly to the empirical understanding of psychological processes and aging. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, attitudes, clinical applications, cognition, education, emotion, health, human factors, interpersonal relations, neuropsychology, perception, personality, physiological psychology, social psychology, and sensation.