2021 Fiscal Year Research-status Report

Population Aging, End-of-Life Medical Cost and Health Insurance Coverage Scheme

Research Project

Project/Area Number	19K01670
Research Institution	The University of Tokyo
Principal Investigator	Chen Stacey 東京大学, 大学院公共政策学連携研究部・教育部, 教授 (40785680)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	Hsu Minchung 政策研究大学院大学, 政策研究科, 准教授 (20467062) chuang hongwei 国際大学, 国際経営学研究科, 准教授(移行) (70732551)
Project Period (FY)	2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
Keywords	labor economics / health
Outline of Annual Research Achievements	This study tests whether social ties can address moral hazard problems in healthcare. We received revision requests from the Journal of Labor Economics and presentation invitations from the Melbourne Institute and the Applied Economics Workshop. Also, we presented our findings to the World Congress of Econometric Society. Our results show that physician-patients with advanced cancer take more drugs but receive less intensive care while enjoying better survival. A robust professional tie with the attending doctor can complement the physician-patient's medical knowledge in prolonging life. In contrast, knowledge and professional ties with the attending are substitutes for reducing intensive care.
Current Status of Research Progress	Current Status of Research Progress 4: Progress in research has been delayed. Reason This project relies primarily on data from Taiwan's national health insurance database, which requires onsite use under a limited period of data license. The travel bans between 2020 and 2022 caused significant delays.
Strategy for Future Research Activity	We plan to work with Taiwanese scholars to push forward our progress on the onsite data usage and acquisition. We are developing long-term international collaboration projects based on our research findings.
Causes of Carryover	For the next fiscal year, we will use the remaining budget to update computing softwares and hire research assistants.