Center for Social Security Studies, Wuhan University, 430072, Wuhan, China.
School of Political Science & Public Administration, Wuhan University, 430072, Wuhan, China.
BMC Public Health. 2024 Apr 4;24(1):954. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-18375-3.
Policy effect might be multidimensional and spill over to non-recipients. It is unclear how the implementation of Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) policy affects depression in non-disabled people and how this effect differs in different non-disabled groups.
Using time-varying differences-in-differences method and nationally representative health survey data in wave 2011, wave 2013, wave 2015 and wave 2018 from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we assessed the effect of LTCI policy on depression in non-disabled people aged 45 years and older, and discussed the heterogeneity of effect across different population characteristics: retirement, financial support and social participation status.
We found LTCI policy statistically significant reduced depression by 0.76 units in non-disabled people compared to non-pilot cities. Depression in non-disabled people who unretired, with financial support and without social participation was reduced by 0.8267, 0.7079 and 1.2161 units, respectively.
Depression in non-disabled people was statistically significant reduced because of LTCI policy in China, and non-disabled people who unretired, with financial support and without social participation benefited more from LTCI policy. Our findings highlight the depression-reducing effect of LTCI policy in non-recipients and suggest that non-disabled people who unretired, with financial support and without social participation should be concerned during LTCI policy progress.
政策效应可能是多维度的，并会外溢到非受惠者。目前尚不清楚长期护理保险（LTCI）政策的实施如何影响非残疾人群的抑郁状况，以及这种影响在不同的非残疾人群体中如何不同。
利用时变差分法和中国健康与退休纵向研究在 2011 年、2013 年、2015 年和 2018 年的全国代表性健康调查数据，我们评估了 LTCI 政策对 45 岁及以上非残疾人群抑郁的影响，并讨论了不同人口特征（退休、经济支持和社会参与状况）下效应的异质性。
我们发现，与非试点城市相比，LTCI 政策使非残疾人群的抑郁程度平均降低了 0.76 个单位。未退休、有经济支持和没有社会参与的非残疾人群的抑郁程度分别降低了 0.8267、0.7079 和 1.2161 个单位。
LTCI 政策在中国使非残疾人群的抑郁程度显著降低，未退休、有经济支持和没有社会参与的非残疾人群从 LTCI 政策中获益更多。我们的研究结果突出了 LTCI 政策对非受惠者的抑郁缓解作用，并表明在 LTCI 政策推进过程中，应关注未退休、有经济支持和没有社会参与的非残疾人群。
