Long-term care insurance and multidimensional poverty of middle-aged and elderly: Evidence from China

This paper examined the impact of public long-term care insurance (LTCI) pilots in China on the multidimensional poverty status of middle-aged and older adults.

Using panel data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey, we utilized LTCI pilots conducted in different cities from 2012 to 2018 and assessed the impact of LTCI using a difference-in-differences strategy.

We found that the implementation of LTCI reduces the multidimensional poverty of middle-aged and older adults and their likelihood of future multidimensional poverty. LTCI coverage was also associated with a reduction in the likelihood that middle-aged and older adults in need of care fall into income poverty, living consumption poverty, health poverty, and social participation poverty.

From a policy perspective, the findings of this paper suggest that the establishment of an LTCI system can improve the poverty of middle-aged and older adults in several ways, which has important implications for the development of LTCI systems in China and other developing countries.