Impact of medical and pension insurance on the long-term care expenses for the Chinese disa-bled elderly:An empirical analysis based on CLHLS data / 中国卫生政策研究

ABSTRACT

China has not established the national long-term care insurance system, the long-term care expenses being mainly borne by the family, which leads to an unclear long-term care service utilization. This paper analyzes the impact of medical and pension insurance on the long-term care expenses for the Chinese disabled elderly by con-structing a two-part model based on the data of Chinese elderly longitudinal healthy longevity survey conducted in 2011 . The results showed that the long-term care expenditure of the urban elders with disabilities is significantly high-er than that of the rural ones. Although free public health insurance, the New Rural Cooperative medical insurance and endowment insurance have certain impact on the elderly long-term care expenditure, their effectiveness is differ-ent between the rural and urban areas. The urban elders' medical and pension insurance exerts influence on both the existence and the amount of the long-term care expenses. However, the rural elders' medical and pension insurance only have impact on the existence of the long-term care expenses, but the effect is not significant. It is suggested that China has to strengthen medical and pension insurance and build long-term care insurance system to lighten the finan-cial burden of the families of elders with disabilities.