Chen Qian, Ma Sang, Lyu Xinyue
School of Government, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China.
Front Public Health. 2025 May 19;13:1498105. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1498105. eCollection 2025.
China established a trial long-term care insurance program in 15 cities in 2016 to address the country's aging population; however, the policy's impacts must be confirmed.
Panel data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) were used, covering four periods: 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018. A difference-in-difference model was applied to analyze the impact of the long-term care insurance policy on health status, comparing residents in pilot cities with those in non-pilot cities.
The implementation of long-term care insurance in pilot cities led to a significant increase in self-rated health of 0.093 levels among surveyed residents compared to those in non-pilot cities. Significant variables included educational attainment, household registration, marital status, and the regional number of hospitals. Additionally, the health condition of citizens in central and western pilot cities improved considerably compared to those in eastern pilot cities.
The long-term care insurance policy has a significant positive effect on the health status of residents, demonstrating its potential as a valuable policy tool to address health challenges associated with an aging population.
2016年中国在15个城市设立了长期护理保险试点项目，以应对人口老龄化问题；然而，该政策的影响仍需确认。
使用了中国健康与养老追踪调查（CHARLS）的面板数据，涵盖2011年、2013年、2015年和2018年四个时期。采用双重差分模型分析长期护理保险政策对健康状况的影响，将试点城市的居民与非试点城市的居民进行比较。
与非试点城市相比，试点城市长期护理保险的实施使受访居民的自评健康水平显著提高了0.093个等级。显著变量包括教育程度、户籍、婚姻状况和地区医院数量。此外，中西部试点城市居民的健康状况与东部试点城市相比有了显著改善。
长期护理保险政策对居民健康状况有显著的积极影响，表明其作为应对人口老龄化相关健康挑战的重要政策工具的潜力。
