The Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011 and it's massive tidal waves wreaked devastating damage on residences and communities along 400 km of the Pacific coast in Japan. Using the panel data from the Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement, we estimate the effects of this disaster on individual health, finding a significant negative impact on the health of those in the area. In addition, we exploit a discontinuous decrease in copayments for medical care at the age of 70 years and find that the reduction in copayment increased medical and long-term care utilization and significantly reduced health deterioration after the earthquake.

中文翻译：

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健康保险抗灾的保护作用：东日本大地震的启示

2011年3月的东日本大地震及其巨浪对日本太平洋沿岸400公里的居民和社区造成了毁灭性破坏。我们使用《日本衰老与退休研究》中的面板数据，估计了这场灾难对个人健康的影响，发现了对该地区那些人的健康的重大负面影响。此外，我们利用70岁时医疗服务的自付费用的不连续减少，发现自付费用的减少提高了医疗和长期护理的利用率，并大大减少了地震后的健康恶化。