International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid aging of populations around the world presents a set of challenges, including a burden of multi-morbidities, increased expenditure, labor-force shortages, and potential problems with long-term care preparedness as well as adequate insurance coverage. Health care systems in both developed and developing countries are unprepared for the complexity of caring for older adults. To provide the elderly with holistic health care, we need a series of health care approaches ranging from health promotion to acute care, post-acute care, home care, long-term care, and end-life care, adopting the bio-psycho-socio-spiritual model and based on a well-covered insurance plan and health care education system.

Psychosocial factors such as social support, marital status, unemployment, and economic status play important roles in the mental and physical health of older adults. Furthermore, these factors have been associated with mortality. In a society that pursues health and welfare, more and more resources and interventions are devoted to psychosocial issues, particularly social support for older adults.

In this Special Issue, interested authors are invited to contribute their research. Both qualitative and quantitative studies are welcome. We encourage authors using innovative approaches to unveil the complicated associations among health care, social supports, and health outcomes, including active aging, mental health, physical health, frailty, geriatric syndrome, and mortality. In particular, works that address cost-effective suggestions for policies are suitable for this Special Issue. Review articles which compare health and welfare policies for psychosocial issues among countries are also welcome.

Keep well and best wishes,

Prof. Dr. Meng-Chih Lee
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

health care
health services
social support
health outcomes
mortality
aging population

Published Papers (1 paper)

Research

20 pages, 1346 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Healthcare Expenditures among the Elderly in China: The Role of Catastrophic Medical Insurance

by Hongmei Cao, Xinpeng Xu, Hua You, Jinghong Gu, Hongyan Hu and Shan Jiang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(21), 14313; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114313 - 2 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1780

Abstract

China has been piloting the catastrophic medical insurance (CMI) program since 2012 and rolled it out nationally in 2016 to reduce the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure among Chinese residents. Few studies have been conducted to determine its effect on healthcare expenditures, particularly among the elderly. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of CMI on healthcare expenditures among China’s elderly population. The data for this study were derived from 4 waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, which included 344 and 1199 individuals in the treatment and control groups, respectively. To examine the effect of CMI on healthcare expenditures among the elderly, we used difference-in-differences and fixed-effects models. Additionally, a heterogeneity analysis was used to examine the differences in the impact of CMI on different groups. Finally, we confirmed the robustness of the results using robustness and placebo tests. CMI increased total health and out-of-pocket expenditures significantly, as well as inpatient and corresponding out-of-pocket expenditures. The reassults of the heterogeneity analysis indicated that CMI had a greater impact on elderly residents of rural areas. Economic burden protection has been enhanced for low-income groups and patients with serious diseases over the last two years. Our research indicated that CMI can promote the use of inpatient medical services for the elderly to a certain extent. Targeted measures such as expanding the CMI compensation list, establishing a more precise compensation scheme, and specific diseases associated with high healthcare expenditures can be considered in the practice of CMI implementation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Care and Social Support for the Aging Population)

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