Medical insurance, health risks, and household financial asset allocation: evidence from China household finance survey
There is a lack of micro evidence on whether medical insurance may optimize the household financial asset allocation by transferring health risk, despite the fact that health risk is a significant component driving families’ precautionary savings. This article empirically examines the impact of heal...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1268470/full |
| _version_ | 1797382981245992960 |
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| author | Chengming Li Chengming Li Jiashan Li Chenchen Zhai Xiaoqi Dong Zhengyu Jiang Shaoxiang Jiang |
| author_facet | Chengming Li Chengming Li Jiashan Li Chenchen Zhai Xiaoqi Dong Zhengyu Jiang Shaoxiang Jiang |
| author_sort | Chengming Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | There is a lack of micro evidence on whether medical insurance may optimize the household financial asset allocation by transferring health risk, despite the fact that health risk is a significant component driving families’ precautionary savings. This article empirically examines the impact of health risk and social medical insurance on household risky financial asset allocation using a Probit model, based on data from the 2015–2019 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS). The findings indicate that social medical insurance, with its lower level of security, reduces the likelihood, but it can alter households’ preferences for risk by lowering marginal effect of health risk. According to the findings of the heterogeneity analysis, people who live in rural and less developed areas are more likely to experience the risk-inhibiting effects of social medical insurance and health risk. The eroding and risk-suppressing impacts of social medical insurance are likewise less pronounced for households headed by women and older people, as is the health risk’s suppressive influence on household involvement in risky financial markets. Compared with social medical insurance, commercial medical insurance with a higher level of coverage can dramatically increase household participation in riskier financial markets. This article provides micro-empirical evidence for the household asset allocation effect of medical insurance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:14:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3a838281a560406a816c1bb8d1c92163 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-2565 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:14:09Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-3a838281a560406a816c1bb8d1c921632023-12-22T04:14:57ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652023-12-011110.3389/fpubh.2023.12684701268470Medical insurance, health risks, and household financial asset allocation: evidence from China household finance surveyChengming Li0Chengming Li1Jiashan Li2Chenchen Zhai3Xiaoqi Dong4Zhengyu Jiang5Shaoxiang Jiang6School of Economics, Minzu University of China, Beijing, ChinaChina Institute for Vitalizing Border Areas and Enriching the People, Minzu University of China, Beijing, ChinaSchool of Economics, Minzu University of China, Beijing, ChinaSchool of Economics, Minzu University of China, Beijing, ChinaDepartment of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United StatesSchool of Economics and Finance, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, ChinaInstitute for Global Health and Development, Peking University, Beijing, ChinaThere is a lack of micro evidence on whether medical insurance may optimize the household financial asset allocation by transferring health risk, despite the fact that health risk is a significant component driving families’ precautionary savings. This article empirically examines the impact of health risk and social medical insurance on household risky financial asset allocation using a Probit model, based on data from the 2015–2019 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS). The findings indicate that social medical insurance, with its lower level of security, reduces the likelihood, but it can alter households’ preferences for risk by lowering marginal effect of health risk. According to the findings of the heterogeneity analysis, people who live in rural and less developed areas are more likely to experience the risk-inhibiting effects of social medical insurance and health risk. The eroding and risk-suppressing impacts of social medical insurance are likewise less pronounced for households headed by women and older people, as is the health risk’s suppressive influence on household involvement in risky financial markets. Compared with social medical insurance, commercial medical insurance with a higher level of coverage can dramatically increase household participation in riskier financial markets. This article provides micro-empirical evidence for the household asset allocation effect of medical insurance.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1268470/fullmedical insurancehealth riskhousehold financeasset allocationChina household finance survey |
| spellingShingle | Chengming Li Chengming Li Jiashan Li Chenchen Zhai Xiaoqi Dong Zhengyu Jiang Shaoxiang Jiang Medical insurance, health risks, and household financial asset allocation: evidence from China household finance survey Frontiers in Public Health medical insurance health risk household finance asset allocation China household finance survey |
| title | Medical insurance, health risks, and household financial asset allocation: evidence from China household finance survey |
| title_full | Medical insurance, health risks, and household financial asset allocation: evidence from China household finance survey |
| title_fullStr | Medical insurance, health risks, and household financial asset allocation: evidence from China household finance survey |
| title_full_unstemmed | Medical insurance, health risks, and household financial asset allocation: evidence from China household finance survey |
| title_short | Medical insurance, health risks, and household financial asset allocation: evidence from China household finance survey |
| title_sort | medical insurance health risks and household financial asset allocation evidence from china household finance survey |
| topic | medical insurance health risk household finance asset allocation China household finance survey |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1268470/full |
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