Department of Economics, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
School of Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai, China.
Health Econ. 2021 May;30(5):1239-1246. doi: 10.1002/hec.4235. Epub 2021 Feb 26.
Medical expenditure risk is widely believed to reduce households' willingness to bear other risks and in turn alter their behavior. In this paper, we investigate the role of health insurance in household financial decision. To this end, we consider a double-multinomial discrete-factor model of insurance choice and portfolio allocation. Using data from a Chinese household survey, we find that enrolling in a health insurance scheme with better policies is associated with a higher probability of owning risky assets. This positive effect is stronger for households with lower risk aversion. Our findings suggest that risk attitudes could indirectly influence portfolio outcomes through affecting households' responsiveness to changes in medical expenditure risk.
人们普遍认为，医疗支出风险会降低家庭承担其他风险的意愿，进而改变他们的行为。本文研究了健康保险在家庭财务决策中的作用。为此，我们考虑了保险选择和投资组合配置的双重多项离散因素模型。利用来自中国家庭调查的数据，我们发现，参加政策更好的医疗保险计划与拥有风险资产的概率更高相关。对于风险厌恶程度较低的家庭，这种积极影响更强。我们的研究结果表明，风险态度可能通过影响家庭对医疗支出风险变化的反应能力，间接地影响投资组合结果。
