The Effects of Environmental Regulations on Medical Expenses: Evidence from China

Hongshan Ai; Xiaoqing Tan; Zhen Xia

doi:10.3390/ijerph19137567

The Effects of Environmental Regulations on Medical Expenses: Evidence from China

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jun 21;19(13):7567. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19137567.

Authors

Hongshan Ai¹, Xiaoqing Tan¹, Zhen Xia²

Affiliations

¹ School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University, Changsha 410079, China.
² School of Biomedical Sciences, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.

Abstract

In this study, we examine the effects of a special period regulation (SPR), implemented in the Chang-Zhu-Tan (Changsha City, Zhuzhou City, and Xiangtan City; CZT) region, regarding medical expenses paid by the Urban and Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URRBMI) and Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI) programs, using a difference-in-differences (DID) design. We find that the SPR significantly reduces medical expenses in the CZT region, which appears to be driven by improved air quality. Furthermore, this regulation has a significantly negative and positive impact on medical expenses paid by the UURBMI and UEBMI, respectively. In summary, our results provide empirical evidence for the orderly implementation of command-and-control environmental regulation policies from the perspective of health benefits.

Keywords: command-and-control environmental regulation; health benefit; medical expenses; special period regulation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Retracted Publication

MeSH terms

China
Cities
Humans
Insurance, Health*
Rural Population*
Urban Population

Grants and funding

This research was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China, grant number 71974054; Science-Technology Innovation Platform and Talents Program of Hunan Province, China, grant number 2019TP1053; Technical Service Items of Economic and Technological Research Institute in Hunan Electric Power Company, grant number 5216A220000A.