Professor Yang Hongyan, Director of the Institute of Healthy Aging, Social Security Research Center, Wuhan University, and Jiang Wenjing, a doctoral candidate, published a paper entitled "Effect of long-term care insurance policy on depression in non-disabled people: evidence" in the first issue of BMC Public Health (SCI, SCI Q2) in 2024 from China". It is now forwarded and shared with readers.

【author】Yang Hongyan，Jiang Wenjing

【Published journals】《BMC Public Health》

【Publication time】Issue 5,2024

【Abstract】The impact of the policy is multifaceted and can spill over to non-recipients. It is unclear how the implementation of long-term care insurance (LTCI) policies affects depression in non-disabled populations, and how this effect differs among different groups of non-disabled people. This paper evaluates the impact of LTCI policies on depression in non-disabled people aged 45 years and older using the difference-in-difference method at multiple time points and data from the 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018 China Health and Pension Longitudinal Survey Studies, and discusses the heterogeneity of the effects of different population characteristics: retirement, financial support, and social participation. We found that the LTCI policy significantly reduced depression levels by 0.76 units in non-disabled persons compared to non-pilot cities. The levels of depression in non-disabled people who are not retired, financially supported, and socially involved decreased by 0.8267, 0.7079, and 1.2161 units, respectively. Because of the implementation of China's LTCI policy, the level of depression in non-disabled people was statistically significantly reduced, and non-disabled people who are not retired, financially supported, and have no social participation benefit more from the LTCI policy. Our findings highlight the role of LTCI policies in reducing depression among non-beneficiaries, and suggest that non-retired, financially supported, and socially uninvolved non-disabled people should be focused on during LTCI policy progress

【Keywords】long-term care insurance; Difference of Difference; Depression; Non-disabled population

【Funds】National Natural Science Foundation of China (72274145); Ministry of Education Planning Fund Project, "Research on Effect Evaluation and Optimization Path of Long-term Care Insurance Pilot Policy Based on Counterfactual Analysis" (22YJA630101); "Research on the Effect Evaluation and Optimization Path of Long-term Care Insurance Pilot Policy Based on Counterfactual Analysis" (413000138); "Research on the Effect of Long-term Care Insurance Policy" (21JDZS04).