高久 玲音（TAKAKU Reo）- 医療経済学者

高久 玲音（たかく れお）は、医療保険や医療提供体制の政策効果をデータから検証する医療経済学者。専門は医療経済学と応用ミクロ計量経済学。2007年に慶應義塾大学商学部を卒業し、同大学大学院で学び、2015年に博士（商学）を取得した。日本経済研究センターの研究員を経て、2012年に医療経済研究機構へ移り、2014年から主任研究員を務めた。2019年に一橋大学へ着任し、2024年に経済学研究科教授となった。学生時代に社会保障論を学び、高齢化が進む日本の医療・介護を経済学から研究する道を選んだ。医療保険の自己負担が受診行動に及ぼす影響、医療・介護の労働市場、病院への支払制度、自治体の地域医療政策、医療保険財政などを実証分析の対象としてきた。診療報酬明細書などの医療データを用い、疫学や医療社会学などの隣接分野とも連携しながら、政策形成に役立つ根拠を探ってきた。東京都の地域医療構想アドバイザーなどとして医療政策の検討にも携わった。2026年の『医療崩壊の経済学――現代日本医療制度の再検討』では、2000年以降の医療政策を振り返り、コロナ禍の医療提供体制の逼迫を、病床や医師配置、医療保険の制度設計と結びつけて分析した。高度医療機能の分散や長い在院日数、患者の自己負担、健診などの健康管理施策を取り上げ、医療現場に近い立場で重ねてきた研究と実証的な知見から、医療・介護政策の改革の方向を検討した。同書で2026年度・第69回日経・経済図書文化賞を受賞した。

Reo Takaku is a health economist who uses data to evaluate health insurance and the organization of medical care. His specialties are health economics and applied microeconometrics. He graduated from Keio University’s Faculty of Business and Commerce in 2007 and pursued graduate study there, earning a doctorate in business and commerce in 2015. After working at the Japan Center for Economic Research, he joined the Institute for Health Economics and Policy in 2012 and became a senior researcher in 2014. He moved to Hitotsubashi University in 2019 and became a professor in its Graduate School of Economics in 2024. Studying social security as a student led him to examine medical and long-term care in an aging Japan through economics. His empirical research has addressed the effects of patient cost-sharing on healthcare use, labor markets in medical and long-term care, hospital payment systems, local healthcare policy, and health insurance finance. He has used medical claims and other data, working across fields including epidemiology and medical sociology to develop evidence relevant to policymaking. He has also advised on healthcare policy, including Tokyo’s regional healthcare planning. His 2026 book “Iryo Hokai no Keizaigaku: Gendai Nihon Iryo Seido no Saikento” reviewed Japanese health policies since 2000 and examined the strain on medical services during the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to hospital capacity, physician distribution, and insurance design. Bringing empirical findings together with research conducted in close contact with medical practitioners, it considered dispersed specialist services, lengthy hospital stays, patient charges, and health-management programs such as screening, and examined directions for reform of medical and long-term care policy. The book received the 69th Nikkei Prize for Excellent Books in Economic Science in 2026.