Effects of SO2 Pollution on Household Insurance Purchasing in China: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

There have been considerable concerns regarding the effects of air pollution on health and economy over the past decades across the world. As insurance coverage has been closely related to household welfare, we aim to investigate the influence of air pollution, in particular, the sulfur dioxide (SO2) pollution on household purchases of commercial health insurance using data from the 2017 China Household Financial Survey (CHFS). The results show that the rise in SO2 emission has a significant positive association with tendency of residents to participate in commercial health insurance. The possibility of household commercial health insurance purchasing increases by 4% per 1,000 tons of SO2 emission. In addition, the proportion of commercial health insurance expenditure in household annual income increases by 29% per 1,000 tons of SO2 emission. The effects are also found to differ among resident groups. Residents in eastern parts of China are more likely to buy commercial health insurance facing SO2 pollution compared to those in western parts of China; people with higher income are more likely to be affected compared to those with lower income; families with the household head being female are more likely to be affected compared to those with the household head being male. This research provides baseline information on the formulation and implementation of future operation strategy in commercial health insurance companies of China.

Formation mechanism of residents' intention to purchase commercial health insurance: the moderating effect of environmental pollution perception

“…To avoid the health risks caused by environmental pollution, the demand for medical insurance has increased, and scholars have begun to pay attention to the relationship between environmental pollution and health insurance. Some studies have concluded that environmental factors are commonly identified to positively affect residents' intention to purchase health insurance (Mistry and Vyas 2021;Wang et al 2021b). In terms of macro data, (Wu et al 2019) proved that air pollution could directly or indirectly promote the consumption of commercial health insurance by affecting residents' risk perception by constructing a spatial Durbin model and generalized moment estimation.…”

Air pollution, residents’ concern and commercial health insurance’s sustainable development

“…Pi et al (2019) used data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) to examine the relationship between air pollution and household insurance coverage for each type of insurance. Zhao (2020) used CHFS data to examine the relationship between air pollution and household insurance coverage; Chen and He (2021) used CHARLS data to examine the effect of air pollution on health insurance coverage, again using individual health status as a potential channel; Wang et al (2021) used CHFS data to examine the relationship between air pollution and commercial health insurance; Jia and Yan (2022) used CHFS data to examine the effect of haze pollution on commercial health insurance. Most of the above literature studies on air pollution and commercial health insurance use CHFS data, which indicates that CHFS is a good help for studying the relationship between air pollution and commercial health insurance.…”

Influence of Internet Use on Commercial Health Insurance of Chinese Residents

“…Wang et al ( 14 ) found that if the air pollution level is high, policyholders prioritize obtaining insurance for their children. Wang et al ( 15 ), based on the data from the 2017 China Household Financial Survey (CHFS), the results showed that the rise in SO 2 emissions can increase the tendency of residents to participate in commercial health insurance. Residents in eastern parts of China, people with high income, and female are more likely to purchase commercial health insurance facing SO 2 pollution.…”