Impact of a pension program on healthcare utilization among older farmers: Empirical evidence from health claims data

In many countries, family-owned farms are predominant, with self-employed farmers. When such farmers reach retirement age, they likely do not have access to pensions. Using the farmer pension program in Taiwan as an example, this study examines the effect of access to public pension on healthcare utilization among older farmers. We investigate whether this program affects healthcare utilization, number of visits, and the costs associated with outpatient or inpatient services and prescription drugs. We also explore whether these effects vary by medical specialty and the amount of pension received. By using health claims data from the universal health insurance program and a regression discontinuity design, we find that pension payments significantly increase the number of outpatient visits by 4% and outpatient expenditure by 5%. We also find that pension recipients spend more on family medicine, internal medicine, and Chinese medicine. As the pension program is designed to secure older farmers' welfare, our results demonstrate an improvement in the health component of individual well-being. & COPY; 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.