9th Biennial ACSPRI Social Science Methodology Conference

Across the globe, there has been a noticeable increase in weather phenomena such as heatwaves, storms, and intense rains, primarily attributed to changes in climatic patterns. Along with the global scenario, New Zealand's weather patterns are changing, with extreme events occurring more frequently and with greater intensity. New Zealand is affected by a range of weather phenomena, such as tropical cyclones, heavy rainfall, floods, droughts, snowstorms, heatwaves, earthquakes, tsunamis, and the excessive occurrence of El Nino and La Nina. In 2022, the average temperature was 13.15°C, above the average temperature from 1981-2010 by 0.96°C.

The main objectives of this study are to investigate the effect of weather events on hospitalization discharge rates; and to explore the impact of weather variation on heath expenditure in New Zealand.

Author have utilized secondary weather data accumulated from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), as well as hospital discharge rates by ethnic groups and medical expenditure data obtained from Health New Zealand. It has used panel data from 8 major regions which have DHB and NIWA weather stations in all over New Zealand and (2014-2019) have been considered to assess the impact of meteorological occurrences on the health sector. The six-year period includes in this analysis is based on the accessibility of public health data. Panel data regression models (fixed effect and random effect) have been implemented to investigate the association between health variables and meteorological events.

The findings indicate that while the average temperature has an effect on the rate of hospital release, rainfall is inversely correlated with hospitalization. The average temperature separately regressed the discharge rate and the result is positive and significant at 1% significance level. But the admission of individuals to hospitals is not influenced by an increase in the rate of rainfall. The analysis indicates that both the average temperature (1% significance level) and minimum temperature (5% significance level) have had a significant positive impact on the discharge rate.

Both panel regression models (fixed and random) demonstrate that the average temperature has a significant impact on increasing medical cost in New Zealand. It is intended to indicate that individuals are becoming ailing and experiencing a variety of diseases as the average temperature begins to rise. At the end of the day, they are required to undergo medical monitoring. As a result, the authority ought to allocate additional funds to the healthcare sector. In the same way, the total rainfall has a positive association with the medical expense on health care across the nation. The rainfall coefficient has significant impact on medical expenditure in random effect model. According to Hausman test, the result of random effect model is more reliable than the fixed effect model for this study.

The rising costs of healthcare systems are being exacerbated by health issues resulting from extreme weather conditions, particularly in regions with low resources. Gaining insight into the impact of these particular weather conditions on health facilitates the development of more effective health plans and policies. With the increasing frequency of severe weather events, healthcare systems must possess robustness and preparedness to effectively handle the situation. While we may not have a direct role in dealing with climate change and temperature rise, our study can assist health-policy authority in raising awareness among the public about the imminent concerns that climate change poses to the health sector.