Preventive activity and national health insurance among Taiwan’s elderly people

Abstract

In this paper, we evaluate the preventive behaviors for middle age people in Taiwan through survey wave comparisons for the period 1993–2007. We first investigate the determinants of preventive behavior and how their effects change over time by using the seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model. Evidence shows that income and education levels do have a significantly positive relation with preventive behavior models, while reported poor health, inpatient and outpatient services, and regions are essential determinants of preventive behaviors. Then, we investigate the impact of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) on preventive behaviors based on the difference-in-difference (DID) analysis. The results show a lack of evidence for the moral hazard effect on preventive care and regular exercise panels over the period 1993–2007.