• Health Policy and Management
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.159-178
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• 2011

Korea ranks high among the OECD member countries with a high out-of-pocket share. In 2006, the government implemented in full scale the policy of extending the health insurance benefit coverage. Included in the policy are lowering the out-of-pocket share of patients of serious case and expanding the medical bill ceiling system to mention just a few. This study proposes to confirm effectiveness of the benefit extension policy by identifying changes in 'out-of-pocket expenditure as a share of the ability to pay' and 'incidence rate of catastrophic health care expenditure' of each individual household as manifested before and after the benefit extension policy was implemented. The 1st and 3rd year data from the Korea Welfare Panel Study (KoWePS), conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA), were used for the analysis, where low-income households and ordinary households are sampled separately. While the absolute amount of 'out-of-pocket expenditure' occurred to the average household increased for the period 2005-2007, the 'out-of-pocket expenditure as a share of the ability to pay' decreased. At the same time, the share decreased in the case of low-income households and households with patients of chronic or serious case as contrasted with ordinary households. 'Incidence rates of catastrophic health care expenditure' of ordinary households for 2007 stood at 14.6%, 5.9% and 2.8% at the threshold of 10%, 20% and 30%, respectively. The rates decreased overall between 2005 and 2007, while those of low-income households with patients of serious case statistically significantly increased. An analysis of this study indicates that it is related with the medical bill ceiling system regardless of incomes introduced in 2007.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.187-199
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• 2018

In this study, only 2,877 men, 2,614 men (44.6%), and 143 women (2.3%) were selected as the subjects who were over 18 years old in response to the health consciousness of the Korean medical panel data in 2012. Emergency of smokers through medical use and medical expenditure data by smoking. The social costs were estimated through medical expenses according to the number of hospitalization and outpatient medical use. The social cost was calculated by summing the social expenditure on health care costs, insurer (corporation) costs, copayment, non - salary, and productivity costs by adopting the social perspective established by the health economist Rice (1968). The rate of annual emergency medical use by smoking status is 7.5% for smokers per 100 people, 9.8 times for use, and 809,003 won for social expenses. The annual rate of hospitalization per 100,000 population by smoking status was 9.6% for smokers per 100 population, 9 times for use, The social cost is 706,870 won. Annual smoking rate by smoking status was 68.6% for smoking, 9 cases for annual medical use,

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.47-76
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• 1989

The objectives of this study was to analyze the major causes of decreasing utilization rate of health care institutios in pilot-project area of regional medical insurance, Kwang-hwa and Kun-wi country. After the implementation of medical insurance, utilization rate of health institutions turned out' to be lower than it was estimated, when the pilot-project of regional medical insurance was planned. It might be due to changes in inhabitant's behavioral attitude toward medical insurance. So this study was made to find measures for financial stability by increasing utilization rate of health care institutions and to be available for basic demand-supply program of medical care. The hypothesis of this study was as follows; First. there is difference in understanding health care institutions between Kun-wi and Kwang-hwa. Second. respondesnts of inquiry survey have exact knowledge of their past experience of treatment taken prior to enforcement of medical insurance, Questionaire survey was made as to each 700 household among total 11, 884 households in Kun-wi and 20,919 households in Kwang-hwa. In case of Kun-wi, 70% of inquired households (491) gave their answers. In Kwang-hwa, the number was 560 households (80% of inquireds). Dollected data was processed and analyzed by way of using SPSS batch system. To evaluate facto rs distribution aspects of data and to make comparison between two area, percentage and $X^2$ distribution were applied. The results were as follows; L The utilization rate of health care institutions in Kun-wi and Kwang-hwa was lower than it was estimated. when pilot-project of medical insurance was planned. 2. Prior to the implementation of medical insurance. inhabitants in two area chose the medical institutions considering such factors. First was medical care fee cheap. second in habitant's residence, Third was the institutions conveniently easy of access. 3. After the implementation of medical insurance. 26.1% of inqurieds in Kun-wi and 41.6% in Kwang-hwa, changed medical institutions. In case of Kwn-wi, from health care institution (p 0.05), and in case of Kwang-hwa, vice versa, from general medical institutions to health care institutions. 4. Evaluation by factors were made such as follows. Inquired gave high marks to following facts: In case of Kun-wi, general medical institutions were difficult of access and relation between patients: was not friendly, but burden of medical expenditure was light. Effects of treatment and facilities was good. In case of Kwang-hwa, inquired gave high evaluation marks to the follow ing facts; facilities of medical institutions was not good, but the burden of medical expenditure was light. 5. After the implementation of medical insurance, the services was evaluated as good, but inquired hopec for lessening the burden of medical expenditure. 6. In case of exact understanding of cost-sharing, the evaluation rate in Kwang-hwa was higher than that of Kun-wi (p < 0.005). And positive attitude toward necessity of medical insurance was also good in Kwang-hwa (p < 0.05). 7. In case of inquired's attitude toward medical institutions, Kwang-hwa showed positive response (p < 0.05) 8. In the case of comparison between general medical institution and health care institution, two area showed similar positive response; medical manpower, facilities of medical institutions and effest: of treatement was good. 9. In comprehensive evaluation of benefit-service; the general medical institution's positiveness was higher than that of health care institutions in Kun-wi. But in Kwang-hwa vice-versa. 10. If the medical expenditure of general medical institution and health care institutions was equal 77% of inquireds in Kun-wi and 59.1% in Kwang-hwa answered that they chose general medical insurance. Considering results above mentioned, the conclusion of this study was made as follows. 1. In Kwang-hwa county, where the understanding of health care institutions's was good, the utilization's of health care institutions was shown high. Therefore, in case of Kwang-hwa, betterment: should be made to induce increasing utilization rate for negative factors of health care institutions. 2. In case of Kun-wi, where the understanding of health care institutions was on the decrease, measures for changing such negative factors should be taken by way of strengthening public relations. And cases of Kwang-hwa should also be studied. 3. On the side of financial stabilization and establishing health care delivery system, primary health care should be available. Therefore, the major cause of inhabitant's avoiding health care institutions should be known. And measures for activating that institutions have to be taken. So, the facilities of health care institution have to be improved up to the level of clinic. And supportive measures for securing equipment and improving health care services should also be taken. It is necessary that strategy for public relations should be employed with policy considerations and supports.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.331-341
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• 2019

The purpose of this analysis is to examine the effects of health expenditure on income inequality on household income after the financial crisis by using the household income survey form 1996 to 2016. The main results are as follows. First, after the financial crisis, the gross income inequality of households has been changing steadily, though there has been a slight change in each year. Second, high-income earners spend more on health care expenditure by income level. Therefore, unequal levels are maintained. Third, the Gini coefficient of income excluding health care expenditure was calculated. The results of the analysis are larger than the Gini coefficient of total income. Income inequality is intensified by the expenditure of health care expenditure of households. The inequality of household income due to health care expenditure has been increasing steadily since the financial crisis. Efforts such as strengthening the protection of health insurance have been continuously carried out for the purpose of reducing the burden of the national medical expenses. However, it does not contribute to resolving income inequality. In the future, it will be necessary to provide a more selective medical support system to reduce the medical expenditure of the low income class.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.53-65
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• 2009

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the prenatal heath care utilization and expenditure among pregnant women. Method: This was a 5-month follow-up study using a stratified sampling and the data were drawn from the "nationwide claim database of Korean National Health Insurance Corporation". Result: This study found that pregnant women were first diagnosed with pregnancy when they were 7.1 weeks pregnant, received 12.7 times of prenatal examinations and 10.6 times of ultrasonogram. It was revealed that 67.5% of the subjects continued to receive prenatal care at the same medical institutions from the diagnosis of pregnancy to the delivery. The study also showed that the total expenditure of prenatal care per pregnant woman was 700,000 Korean Won (KRW) on average and the insurance coverage rate stood at only 20%. Pregnant women living in metropolitan area spent more on prenatal healthcare expenditure than those who living in medium-sized city or rural area. Conclusion: The results of this study implies that the government needs to provide pregnant women with continuous support by increasing health insurance coverage for prenatal care. Especially, it is considered to provide more support to the pregnant women residing in medically underserved areas.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.83-90
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• 2010

objectives: This study was conducted to estimate medical expenditure attributable to overweight and obesity in adults with ischemic heart disease and stroke using Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination survey data and Korea National Health Corporation data. methods : The medical expenditure of ischemic heart disease and stroke related to overweight and obesity were composed of inpatient care costs, outpatient care costs and medication costs. The population attributable risk (PAR) of overweight and obesity was calculated from national representative data of Korea such as the National Health Insurance Corporation cohort data and 2005 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination survey data. results: The medical expenditure attributable to overweight and obesity of ischemic heart disease were 97.4 billion won(74.1-122 billion won). and stroke were 64.6 billion won(33.1-98.1 billion won). Consequently, these costs corresponded to 11.4% of total medical expenditure due to ischemic heart disease and stroke. conclusion: We conclude that overweight and obesity have increased medical expenditure from ischemic heart disease and stroke in Korea. These findings provide important support for implementing overweight and obesity management strategies in Korea.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.45-56
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• 2021

Purpose: Repeated hospitalization could be a proxy of unnecessary or preventive admission in South Korea where barriers to hospitalization are relatively low. This study aimed to estimate the current status of repeated hospitalization due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC) in South Korea. Methods: Using the National Health Information Database, repeated hospitalization databases were constructed in units of episodes for patients who had been admitted more than twice between January 2017 and December 2018. The number of hospitalizations, total in-hospital days, and total medical expenditure were calculated and compared by patient characteristics in both of the entire patient group and the ACSC patient group. Results: Of total hospitalization episodes, 26.6% reported repeated admission, and 6.7% of repeated hospitalization was due to ACSC. A total of 183,110 patients with ACSC had been admitted an average of 2.9 times and spent an average of KRW5,630,118. In other words, KRW1,309 billion had been spent for repeated hospitalization due to ACSC. The scale of medical expenditure was relatively large in the highest and lowest socioeconomic status. Conclusion: Repeated hospitalization for ACSC can be considered a simple and intuitive indicator when assessing unnecessary hospitalizations or evaluating healthcare policy.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.28 no.2 s.50
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• pp.347-363
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• 1995

The increase of health care expenditures is an important problem in the almost countries. Also, suppression of the health care expenditures is an important problem in the health field of Korea since the national health insurance for total people in 1989. Thus, it is very important to grasp the change of the health care expenditures of family and proportions of the health care expenditures to total expenditures of family, because they are the basis of national health care expenditures in Korea. While the health care expenditures of urban family were increased during 1980-1993 by 12.8% annually, the total expenditures of urban family were increased by 14.8% annually. Consequently, the proportions of health care expenditures to total expenditures were decreased from 5.98% to 4.76%. The proportions of health care expenditure for 3 years to come were predicted to 4.75% in 1994, 4.67% in 1995, and 4.63% in 1996 by the time-series analysis. That is, it was predicted that they would be decreasing slowly. The product elasticity of health care expenditure was less than 1 in the multiple regression analysis. so the health care is normal good rather than superior good. Therefore, it seems that the household economy is able to bear the expense pursuing the improvement of quality of health care by actualizing the medical insurance fee.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.160-171
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• 2019

Background: This study purposed to compare the difference on medical utilization and health expenditure of baby boomer generation by depression between gender. Methods: Korea Welfare Panel Survey 2016, provided by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, was used for the analysis. For the research, we used the two-part model, yes or no of use (part 1), and frequency of use (part 2) for medical utilization. The dependent variables are the whether or not to use of hospitalization services, outpatient services, length of stay, outpatient service visits, and health expenditure. And the independent variables are used as the predisposing (education, spouse presence), enabling (insurance type, private insurance, economic activity, income), and need (chronic disease, self-rated health, disability) factors in the Andersen behavior model. Depression was used as intervening variables. Structural equation model and multiple group analysis by gender were used. Results: There were differences in the medical care usage and cost between men and women in baby boomer. For men, mediating effects of depression were present at the hospitalization (yes/no), length of stay, and health expenditure. On the other hand, for women, the mediating effect of depression was found only at the outpatient visits. Specially, depression was working at the medical services by the different way between gender. The size of effect (multiple group analysis) was affected by significant differences between men and women. Conclusion: This study found that the mediating effect of depression is increased medical usage and health expenditure and the effect factors are different by gender. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a medical care policy considering the socio-economic characteristics of baby boomers.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.155-172
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• 1995

This study is an empirical analysis on the equity in the delivery of heatlh care under the Korean Medical Insurance Corporation System. The purposes of this study are to find out effects of income on the health care utiliztion and measure the income-related inequity in the distribution of health care. This study was carried out based on the fact that the health insurance program has been organized to achieve the equity objective, "equal treatment for equal needs". Of 41, 828 insured persons who had been diagnosed in the 1993 Health Screening Test and utilifzation data from 1, January 1993 through 31, December 1993 were derived from the Benefit Managment File. Inequity was measured by means of I) share approach, ii) standardization concentration curve approach, iii) inequity index, iv) test for inequity. The major findings were as follows : 1. The expenditure shares of the top two quintile groups exceeded their morbidity shares, whereas the opposite was true of the bottom three quintile groups, Which showed a positive HI$_{LG}$ inequity index, suggesting the presence of some inequity favoring the rich group. 2. Compared with other residential areas, the rural area showed the highest positive HI$_{LG}$ irrespective of need indicatior applied. 3. Standardized expenditure concentration indices adjusted by age, gender and need structure were also found to be positive, and therefore still indicated that there has been inequity favoring the rich after the standardization. 4. The Loglikelihood Ratio (LR) test for the statistical significance of income-related inequity of medical care utilization was carried out using the logistic regression model. The resulting loglikelihood ratio test statistic value was 176, which did exceed the 0.5 percent critical value of the chi-square distribution with 28 degrees of freedom, which is 50.993. Therefore, the null hypothesis of no income-related inequity of medical care utilization was rejected at the 99.5 percent confidence level. 5. The Regression based F-test has been carried out for analyzing the income-related inequity of medical expenditure in terms of age, gender, morbidity indicators as explanary variables. The hypothesis of the absence of income-relate inequity was rejected for all need indicators at the 95% confidence level.nce level.