National Health Insurance and precautionary saving: Evidence from Taiwan

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-2003

Abstract

By reducing uncertainty about future medical expenses, comprehensive health insurance can reduce households' precautionary saving. We examine this effect using Taiwan micro-data spanning the 1995 introduction of National Health Insurance. The effects of National Health Insurance are identified using employment-based variation in prior insurance coverage. Replacement of the households' prior insurance coverage with National Health Insurance is exogenous to the household, so our estimates are not subject to selection bias. Compared with the preceding government insurance programs, National Health Insurance reduced saving by an average of 8.6-13.7% with the largest effects for households with the smallest saving. © 2002 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Identifier

0141537992 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Journal of Public Economics

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2727(01)00205-5

ISSN

00472727

First Page

1873

Last Page

1894

Issue

9-10

Volume

87

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