The state of dying. Mortality in a comparative perspective – the interplay between cash and care*

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the interplay between cash and care in the welfare state by analysing a specific mortality cause, cerebrovascular disease, in relation to health care and sickness benefits. Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Health Statistics and the Comparative Welfare Entitlements Dataset2 (CWED2) are pooled for the time period 1980–2011. Fourteen countries are analysed by Prais-Winsten regression with panel correct standard errors, using fixed effect models. The results show that health care and sickness benefits have a combined effect on reducing mortality. The results indicate that the level of sickness benefits to some extent modifies the mortality. Holding health-care provision at a fixed level, measured as medication and technology, mortality is reduced when increasing the level of sickness benefits. The results are quite similar for men and women.