Long-term care insurance (LTCI) is a significant approach in the effort to actively manage aging and the currently unmet need for aged care in China. Based on data from the 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018 phases of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we used the propensity score matching-difference in difference (PSM-DID) approach to explore the impact of LTCI on out-of-pocket medical expenses and self-rated health. Results showed that LTCI can significantly reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses by 37.16% (p < 0.01) per year and improve self-rated health by 5.73% (p < 0.01), which conforms to the spirit of “value-based health care”. The results were found to be stable in the robustness tests conducted. Currently, China is at the intersection of “low-value-based health care” and “value-based health care”. Improving the health level of aged individuals while keeping medical costs under reasonable control is crucial for formulating and implementing a new round of healthcare reform in China.

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The announcement of the policy of gradually delaying retirement most likely has noteworthy social and economic implications. Although current literature has primarily focused on the macroeconomic effects of postponing retirement, insufficient attention has been devoted to the influence on micro-level household consumption. To bridge this gap, we utilized data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS) database and employed the Differences-in-Differences (DID) method to analyze the consequences of announcing a gradual delay in retirement on household consumption structure. The findings suggest that the policy announcement substantially reduced the proportion of expenditures related to enjoyment and development in total household consumption, leading to an overall decline in consumption. Moreover, the effect varied significantly by gender and education level. Specifically, men with less education were more likely to reduce their consumption upon hearing the announcement. The practical implications of these empirical results are pertinent to the flexible implementation of the decision to delay retirement. JEL: I15

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