The Impact Of Health Insurance On Medical Expenditure And Health Of The Elderly

At present, the proportion of aging population is increasing in China. The elderly are vulnerable to ill health and diseases, so that they will need more medical services. The health care spending of the old accounted for the proportion of total health care spending continues to rise. Impoverishments caused by illness are frequently appeared. Therefore, the medical research of the elderly is very important. Medical insurance system is an important part of our public health care and social security. The health care spending of the elderly has aroused the attention of the people.In recent years, China’s basic medical insurance system continues to be reformed. The main target is to improve people’s health, improve the accessibility of health services, and promote the fairness of medical services. Medical insurance system releases the health service needs of the elderly. However, the insurance is whether to promote the health of the elderly and reduce the burden on the elderly. The health of the elderly has a significant impact on the elderly medical expenses and life. Medicare allows the elderly to face a lower marginal cost in the use of health services. The medical insurance promotes health care utilization. But the increase in medical and health services may be caused by moral hazard, leading to a waste of medical resources.Medical expenditure accounting for the proportion of China’s GDP continues to rise, which will have a significant negative impact on economic "new normal". The function of social health insurance is still not complete. August 2014, "Opinions of the State Council on Accelerating the Development of Modern Insurance Industry," points out the need to diversify the health insurance services and to innovate the pension products and services. Medical insurance system as an important part of our public health care and social security, therefore, we must expand the research of their health services and improve the effectiveness of our allocation of medical resources. We can improve the health of the elderly population.In this study, a comprehensive theory of demand for medical services, health human capital, empirical research are combined to analyze the impact of medical insurance on the medical expenditure and the health of the elderly. Through the panel data of Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey from 2008 to 2011, this paper employs Heckman, two-part, panel Logit and order models to make an empirical study. We also control the endogeneity and selection bias. It comes to the conclusions as follows:firstly, health insurance promotes the elderly health services utilization medical expenditure. Secondly, health insurance significantly reduces the medical burden on the elderly. Health insurance is significantly associated with out-of-pocket cost, which indicates the health medical significantly reduced the relative burden of the elderly family. Thirdly, health insurance plays a significantly positive role in the elderly health. Fourthly, the effect of health insurance on the elderly health service varies widely with urban-rural and regions. Therefore, the medical insurance system should reduce inequities in the health resource.