Wuhan University Reports Findings in Equity in Health (Health spillover studies of long-term care insurance in China: evidence from spousal caregivers from disabled families): Health and Medicine – Equity in Health

2023 OCT 02 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Daily China News -- New research on Health and Medicine - Equity in Health is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Wuhan, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “To alleviate the shortage of caregivers associated with disabled persons, China has implemented a pilot policy for long-term care insurance. This policy has the characteristics of ‘familialization’ and ‘de-familialization’ policy orientation, and it is indeed essential to clarify whether the policy has a positive spillover effect on the health of family caregivers, which is of great value to the pilot from local practice to national institutional arrangement.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Wuhan University, “Based on the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study microdata and time-varying DID method, our study used the implementation of the pilot policy as a ‘quasi-natural experiment’ to assess the health spillover effects of the pilot policy on family spousal caregivers. This policy significantly improved the health of spousal caregivers, increasing self-rated health and life satisfaction, and reducing depression; Compared with female, urban and central-western spousal caregivers, male, rural and eastern spousal caregivers were ‘beneficiaries’ in more dimensional health. Our research indicated that spousal caregivers of disabled people, particularly male, rural and eastern spousal caregivers, experienced positive health spillovers after implementing long-term care insurance.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “These results suggest that the imbalance between supply and demand of nursing staff could be solved in terms of de-familialization and familialization, spousal caregivers should be promoted to equally enjoy the policy benefits on gender, urban-rural and regions.”

For more information on this research see: Health spillover studies of long-term care insurance in China: evidence from spousal caregivers from disabled families. International Journal for Equity in Health, 2023;22(1):191. International Journal for Equity in Health can be contacted at: Bmc, Campus, 4 Crinan St, London N1 9XW, England. (BioMed Central - http://www.biomedcentral.com/; International Journal for Equity in Health - www.equityhealthj.com)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Wenjing Jiang, Center for Social Security Studies, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, People’s Republic of China.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-023-02001-6. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the International Journal for Equity in Health is: Bmc, Campus, 4 Crinan St, London N1 9XW, England.

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