由風險觀點探討老年經濟安全與保障

Economic Security and Protection of the Elderly-A Risk Approach

詹宜璋(Yi-Chang Chan)

《社會政策與社會工作學刊》 1卷2期 (1997/12) Pp. 3-38

https://doi.org/10.6785/SPSW.199712.0003

摘要

目前台灣地區有關老人的「經濟安全保障」制度並不十分完備，大多數老年人乃依賴子女供養或自身積蓄為老年經濟生活的主要來源。惟經「質變」（家庭功能變遷）與「量變」（家庭養老資源變化）兩個角度之檢視，可發現在相關變遷趨勢下，家庭（尤其是子女家庭）對老年經濟生活之保障似將愈來愈不可依恃，顯示建立保障老年經濟安全之社會安全體系有其功能必要性。惟不同之老年經濟安全「風險」（包括個體風險與社會風險）其性質亦各異，故應採取不同之避險手段，形成多重（或稱多層次）之老年經濟安全網。
本文主要透過臺灣地區家庭收支調查資料以從事老人經濟狀況與其相應之風險型態之實証分析，除透過同質性分析以瞭解老人群體之主要通性、特徵外，更側重異質性分析以呈現不同老人次群體間之差異狀況與相關意涵。綜合本文實證分析結果發現：隨著老年人年歲之日增，不但經濟資源逐漸耗損、經濟自主性愈益低降、對移轉收入仰賴日深；同時，伴隨著醫療科技進步與預期壽命延長，其結果卻是醫療與長期照護成本之高漲。此一「所得漸減、健康日頹」之老化過程對老年人（尤其是老老人）所形成的是雙重之經濟風險壓力。顯示目前各項相關制度規劃中對老人一視同仁之思考脈絡必須重新檢討，未來臺灣地區完整老年經濟安全保障體系之規劃方向，實有必要針對不同年齡別及其它特性之老人次人口群，設計出適合其個別需求或所得狀況之制度方案或機制，否則制度完整因應老年風險之能力與效率勢必有其限制。

關鍵字

經濟安全 ； 風險 ； 異質性分析

並列摘要

The economic security system for the elderly in Taiwan is incomplete. For most of the elderly, their main economic resources are twofold: one is the supporting of their children, and the other is their own savings. In view of the trends of the 'qualitative metamorphosis' caused by the change of family function and the 'quantitative metamorphosis' caused by the change of family resources providing for the aged, family is increasingly no longer to be a guarantee for the economic life of the elderly. Therefore, a social security system for protecting late life is necessary. In fact, the 'risk' of economic security for the elderly, including individual and collective risk, are varied. To tackle various risk, the actions taken must be varied with its situations and, therefore, a multi-level economic safety net for the elderly can be built up.
This paper, by using the data on the survey of family income and expenditure in Taiwan area of Republic of China, aims at analysing the economic situations of the aged and their corresponding forms of risk. In addition to investigate main common characteristics of the aged group in way of homogeneous analysis, this paper also put emphasis on the difference of aged sub-group and its implication through heterogeneous analysis. The growing of the age of the elderly, according to the analysis, is accompanied by the deprivation of economic resources, the loss of economic autonomy, and the increasing dependence on transfer receipts. Furthermore, the advance of medical technology and the prolongation of life expectancy result in the upsurge of medical and long-term care cost. Such aging process accompanied by 'income drop and deteriorated health' for the elderly is a twofold pressure on the economic risk, in particular for those age more than 80. In terms of the fact that the planned related pension schemes do not take age into consideration, it is necessary to be reviewed. To build up a proper scheme for the individual need or income situation and to promote its ability and efficiency for coping with the risk of late life, the planning of an integrated economic security system for the elderly in Taiwan must take the characteristics of various aged sub-group into consideration.

並列關鍵字

economic securicy ； risk ； heterogeneous analysis