Health and household expenditures
We examine the effect of health on household expenditures in the Netherlands between 2009 and 2017, a period that is characterized by significant increases in out-of-pocket medical expenditures for long-term care. How health affects household spending is an empirical question: on the one hand, health can affect a household’s budget through increased out-of-pocket medical expenditures or, for the working population, through reduced income. On the other hand, health can affect a household’s consumption preferences; help with cleaning, gardening, and home maintenance will likely become more valuable in situations of poor health, while leisure activities can be constrained by poor health.