Long-term Care Insurance, Grandparental Caregiving, and Intergenerational Financial Support: An Empirical Study Based on CHARLS Panel Data
The long-term care insurance (LTCI) system is an important welfare policy being implemented in China, aimed at meeting the medical and care needs of the functionally impaired population. However, the implementation of LTCI extends beyond the level of medical security and has exerted profound impacts on intra-family relationships, particularly in terms of financial support and intergenerational interactions. This study aims to explore the impact of LTCI on intergenerational financial support in middle-aged and elderly families, and analyze the mediating role of grandparental caregiving in this relationship. The research data were derived from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) database in 2013 and 2018. The difference-in-differences (DID) method and panel data fixed effect model were adopted to systematically evaluate the impact of LTCI implementation on intergenerational financial support and its mechanism. Meanwhile, the robustness of the results was verified through winsorization and placebo test. The research results indicate that the implementation of LTCI significantly increases children's financial support for middle-aged and older adults, while reducing middle-aged and older adults' financial support for children. This effect shows differences between middle-aged families and elderly families. In addition, LTCI further promotes children's financial support for middle-aged and older adults by increasing the middle-aged and elderly people's care for their grandchildren. In summary, the implementation of LTCI provides important insights for future policy making and family resource allocation. It is imperative to enhance policy support for grandparental caregiving, so as to provide a potential pathway for increasing the fertility rate and further expand the coverage and enrollment scope of LTCI.
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