The Impact Of Income And Income Gap On The Health Of The Elderly

According to the announcement issued by the National Bureau of Statistics in 2019,the number of elderly people over the age of 60 in China exceeded the number of people under the age of 16 for the first time,and the problem of population aging has intensified.The "Healthy China Strategy" pointed out that improving the health of the whole people is the common goal pursued by the whole society.On the road to achieving a healthy China,the health problems of the elderly are the focus of our attention.For the elderly,health is everything.At present,there are serious health inequalities in the elderly population.In the previous research,few incomes and income gaps were combined to study the health problems of the elderly.This paper takes the income and income gap as the two main lines,focusing on the research.The following questions: First,the impact of income levels on the health of the elderly;second,the impact of the income gap on the health of the elderly;third,explore the mechanisms that affect the health of the elderly and test them.Based on the summary of relevant literature,this paper compares the current health status of the elderly with the support of CFPS2016 data and the sixth census data.Then use the ordered-probit model and the probit model to focus on the impact of income and income gaps on the health of the elderly.Based on the results of the analysis,use the simultaneous equations to solve possible endogenous problems and influence the income and income gaps on the elderly.The health mechanism was tested and the following conclusions were drawn:(1)Regression analysis was performed using the five-mark standard,the threemark standard,and the dichotomous health standard.The results of each model showed that the increase in income level can have a positive impact on the health of the elderly,but the margin of income brought to the health of the elderly in different groups The effects are different.The marginal effect of the poor is far greater than that of the rich,which means that with the further increase in income,the health status will not always improve.(2)Regression analysis by calculating the Gini coefficient at district and community level shows that the income gap can have a negative impact on the health of the elderly,that is,the greater the income gap,the worse the health of the elderly,and the robustness in using the income quantile ratio.The test strongly supports this conclusion.And the income-quantity ratio regression results show that the health of lowincome seniors is more sensitive to income disparity.The health impact of the income gap between the 90-and 50-digit older is significantly less than the impact of the income gap between the two and the 10-digit older.(3)The income level has an impact on the health of the elderly through the use of medical services and lifestyle.For urban elderly,income has a significant impact on the utilization of medical services.Due to the lack of medical resources,the impact of income on the choice of medical services is not significant.The results of the regression showed that the cooking water was significantly better for the clean water such as tap water and the elderly who often exercised.The health status of the elderly who cooked the fuel for firewood and coal did not significantly deteriorate,so cooking fuel The mechanism has not been verified.(4)The income gap affects the health of the elderly through mental health and the allocation of medical resources.The regression results of the community Gini coefficient show that the greater the income gap of the community,the more disharmonious the neighborhood relationship,the lower mutual trust,and the greater the income gap,the more easily the elderly feel the injustice caused by the income gap,and then the older People's mental health has a negative impact,and over time it will affect your health.The regression between the income gap and the maximum medical point area and the number of medical personnel shows that the expansion of the income gap will significantly reduce the working area of the medical point.The regression results show that the coefficient between the income gap and the number of medical personnel is negative,but the two The relationship is not significant,probably because the sample size of the community is small.Therefore,the income gap will lead to uneven allocation of medical resources,which will affect the health status of the elderly.This mechanism has also been verified accordingly.Based on the above analysis,the paper gives the following corresponding recommendations: First,improve the accessibility of medical services for the elderly;second,improve the basic projects of people's livelihood in poor and backward areas;third,rationally allocate medical resources;fourth,pay attention to the psychology of the elderly health.