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

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K01670
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 07040:Economic policy-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo (2020-2022); National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (2019)
• 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: Information / Social tie / Network / Matching

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We published one peer-reviewed paper in the top field journal (Journal of Labor Economics) using this research grant. Furthermore, we attended several international conferences and got invited by prestigious institutes for presentations. We found that over-use and under-use coexist in end-stage cancer treatments, with no survival benefits. Physician-patients use less surgery, radiation, or checkups but more targeted therapy and drugs; they enjoy higher survival and spend less on coinsurance. Knowledge mechanisms play a role because the network effect explains some, but not all, patterns. For less informed physician-patients, possessing a network is equivalent to reducing knowledge. The IZA (the Institute of Labor Economics) working paper series, a high-quality research network, has recognized our paper. This study uses unique administrative data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance database. This research grant has made these research achievements possible.

Free Research Field

Labor Economics, Health Economics

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

Our research achievements are significant: (1) We published our main results in the best field journal in labor economics. (2) We presented our findings at the two of the most prestigious international conferences in social science: Econometric Society and American Economic Association Meeting.