The Effect of Public Health Insurance on Mental Health of Middle-aged and Elderly People in China

Using cross-sectional data in the 2018 wave of CHARLS, we use a simple OLS approach to explore the effect of public health insurance on the mental health of middle-aged and elderly people. After analysing the overall mental health condition among people over 45 ,We find that there is a positive and significant correlation between public health insurance coverage and improved mental health outcomes. Specifically, males benefit more from public health insurance than females; people with agricultural hukou have less desired effect than people with non-agricultural hukou; the impacts on the working group are more significant than the none-working group. According to our findings, we recommend Chinese government consolidate public health insurance schemes and expand the coverage of public health insurance. Additionally, efforts to reduce income inequality and put more attention on agricultural groups are recommended to improve overall mental health outcomes in China.