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Peer-reviewedCC BYSSM: Population Health

Who benefits from long-term care insurance? Heterogeneous effects among spousal and adult-child caregivers in China

  • Yichen Qiu1
  • Asako Ohinata2
  1. 1Corresponding author.
  2. 2Department of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester, 266 London Road, Leicester, LE2 1RQ, United Kingdom
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Abstract

China’s 2016 long-term care insurance (LTCI) pilots represent one of the world’s largest social-care policy experiments. Using the five waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) from 2011 to 2020, we examine how access to LTCI affects the physical and mental health of informal caregivers. We distinguish between spousal caregivers and adult-child caregivers. The latter provide nearly half of all informal care yet have received little attention in the literature. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design, we find that LTCI reduces physical pain for both groups of caregivers, although its effects on their mental health are limited. Our findings highlight the uneven health benefits of social-care reform and underscore the need for policies that provide stronger mental health support for caregivers in ageing societies.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{qiu2026benefits,
  title = {{Who benefits from long-term care insurance? Heterogeneous effects among spousal and adult-child caregivers in China}},
  author = {Yichen Qiu and Asako Ohinata},
  journal = {SSM: Population Health},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1016/j.ssmph.2026.101976},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2026.101976},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Who benefits from long-term care insurance? Heterogeneous effects among spousal and adult-child caregivers in China
AU  - Yichen Qiu
AU  - Asako Ohinata
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/06
JO  - SSM: Population Health
DO  - 10.1016/j.ssmph.2026.101976
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2026.101976
AB  - China’s 2016 long-term care insurance (LTCI) pilots represent one of the world’s largest social-care policy experiments. Using the five waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) from 2011 to 2020, we examine how access to LTCI affects the physical and mental health of informal caregivers. We distinguish between spousal caregivers and adult-child caregivers. The latter provide nearly half of all informal care yet have received little attention in the literature. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design, we find that LTCI reduces physical pain for both groups of caregivers, although its effects on their mental health are limited. Our findings highlight the uneven health benefits of social-care reform and underscore the need for policies that provide stronger mental health support for caregivers in ageing societies.
SN  - 2352-8273
ER  -