Journal of Public Economics · 2021 · Sílvia Garcia-Mandicó、Arndt Reichert、Christoph Strupat
中文摘要
我们利用加纳全国医疗保险的推广,评估保险覆盖对健康冲击之财务后果的缓冲作用,以及由此引起的应对行为变化。我们发现,医疗支出大幅减少,这使家庭得以避免削减非食品消费,并导致家庭收到的汇款金额以及家中健康成年成员的劳动供给下降。此外,我们提供证据表明,该保险计划降低了遭受健康冲击的家庭为让子女参加劳动而使其辍学的可能性。避免这类代价高昂的应对机制,可能是正式医疗保险社会价值的一个重要组成部分。
Abstract
We use the roll-out of the national health insurance in Ghana to assess the cushioning effect of coverage on the financial consequences of health shocks and resulting changes in coping behaviors. We find a strong reduction in medical expenditures, preventing households from cutting non-food consumption and causing a decrease in the volume of received remittances as well as labor supply of healthy adult household members. Moreover, we present evidence that the insurance scheme reduced the likelihood that households experiencing a health shock pulled their children out of school in order to put them to work. Avoidance of such costly coping mechanisms is potentially an important part of the social value of formal health insurance.