Living Happily Ever After? The Effect of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance on the Happiness of the Elderly

Keng, Shao-Hsun; Wu, Shinyi

doi:10.1007/s10902-013-9449-4

Cited by 33 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Previous studies on the determinants of happiness have mainly focused on demographic and socioeconomic status (SES) factors, health status, longevity, health insurance, and social support. Among these factors, happiness has been reported to be associated with high income and high education levels [ 1 – 4 ], self-perceived health and longevity [ 5 – 9 ], health insurance coverage and access to medical care [ 10 , 11 ], and robust social support systems [ 12 , 13 ]. However, few studies have examined the relationship between happiness and pensions [ 14 , 15 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are pension types associated with happiness in Japanese older people?: JAGES cross-sectional study

Sasaki¹,

Kondo²,

Kondo³

et al. 2018

PLoS ONE

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BackgroundAlthough many previous studies have examined the determinants of happiness in older adults, few have investigated the association between pension types and happiness. When compared to other conventional socioeconomic indicators, pension types may be more indicative of long-term socioeconomic status as they can reflect a person’s job history over their life course. This study examined the association between pension types and happiness in Japanese older people.MethodsCross-sectional survey data from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study were used to analyze the association between pension types and happiness. The study population comprised 120152 participants from 2013. We calculated the prevalence ratios of happiness for the different pension types using Poisson regression models that controlled for age, sex, marital status, equivalent income, wealth, education level, working status, occupation, depression, and social support.ResultsAfter controlling for socioeconomic indicators, the prevalence ratios (95% confidence intervals) of happiness for no pension benefits, low pension benefits, and moderate pension benefits relative to high pension benefits were 0.77 (0.73–0.81), 0.95 (0.94–0.97), and 0.98 (0.97–0.99), respectively. However, the inclusion of depression as a covariate weakened the association between pension types and happiness.ConclusionsWhile pension types were associated with happiness after adjusting for other proxy measures of socioeconomic status, the association diminished following adjustment for depression. Pension types may provide rich information on socioeconomic status and depression throughout the course of life. In addition to conventional socioeconomic indicators, pension types should also be considered when assessing the determinants of happiness in older adults.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are pension types associated with happiness in Japanese older people?: JAGES cross-sectional study

Sasaki¹,

Kondo²,

Kondo³

et al. 2018

PLoS ONE

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show abstract

“…Health insurance enrolees tend to utilise medical services more and report better health status and wellbeing (McWilliams et al 2004;Fitzpatrick et al 2004). At the same time, a sense of security is gained through health insurance coverage, and this is positively related to older adults' psychological wellbeing and physical health (Keng and Wu 2014). Tran et al (2017) verify that the lack of health care coverage in the US has a detrimental effect on the happiness of the general population after controlling for individuals' self-assessed health and other socioeconomic factors.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 95%

Life Satisfaction of Older Chinese: The Role of Health and Health Insurance

Yang

Hanewald

2019

SSRN Journal

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The Chinese government has launched a series of health reforms to establish universal health insurance coverage, particularly for vulnerable groups, including older adults.However, the current public health insurance system is highly fragmented, consisting of different programs with different levels of premiums and benefits. We analyse whether the universal health insurance system increases the life satisfaction of middle-aged and older Chinese people and to what extent the type of health insurance affects the life satisfaction of this group. Our study is based on data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative longitudinal survey of Chinese aged 45 and above, in 2011, 2013, and 2015. We find that the life satisfaction of middle-aged and older adults does not depend on having any health insurance coverage but varies with the type of health insurance coverage, controlling for potential confounding variables such as health status, occupation, hukou status, education, and other demographic variables. Individuals covered by the most generous program, the Government Medical Insurance, reported a higher life satisfaction. In comparison, individuals covered by the Urban Employee Medical Insurance, the Urban Resident Medical Insurance, and the New Rural Cooperative Scheme reported a lower life satisfaction by 0.155, 0.106, and 0.112 standard deviations, respectively. Our results suggest that establishing a more equitable health insurance system should be the next step in health reforms in China.

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“…Esta ideia de que a Felicidade seria importante para as crianças refletiu-se também nos manuais de educação, que começaram por disseminar a crença que uma das principais responsabilidades dos pais seria fomentar a Felicidade dos seus filhos. (Santos, 2015, p. 33) Nos últimos anos a investigação sobre a Felicidade ganhou destaque, procurando identificar e explicar os determinantes da satisfação com a vida ou do Bem-Estar subjetivo (Clark, Frijters & Shields, 2008;De Neve et al, 2012;Keng & Wu, 2014;Sabatini, 2014). Nesta linha de pensamento pode dizer-se que, Felicidade "é sem dúvida uma conquista momentânea, cuja importância é suficientemente manifesta" (Sen, 2011, p. 308), existindo "muito boas razões para buscar promover a Felicidade das pessoas, incluindo a nossa" (Sen, 2011, p. 307).…”

Section: Enquadramento Teóricounclassified

Comunicação governamental: o exemplo do ministério da felicidade dos Emirados Árabes Unidos.

Ribero¹,

Remondes²,

Costa³

2019

Ambitos

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Living Happily Ever After? The Effect of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance on the Happiness of the Elderly

Cited by 33 publications

References 63 publications

Are pension types associated with happiness in Japanese older people?: JAGES cross-sectional study

Are pension types associated with happiness in Japanese older people?: JAGES cross-sectional study

Life Satisfaction of Older Chinese: The Role of Health and Health Insurance

Comunicação governamental: o exemplo do ministério da felicidade dos Emirados Árabes Unidos.

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