Analysis of Factors Affecting Catastrophic Healthcare Expenditure
AUTHORS
Jae-woo Park,Graduate School of HCM Catholic University of Pusan(Doctoral candidate)
Byung-deog Hwang,Dept. of HCM Catholic University of Pusan(Professor)
ABSTRACT
Catastrophic healthcare expenditure refers to a case where healthcare expenditure of a household exceeds a specific limit, and it is on the rise every year as Korea is facing the aging population, which is three to four times faster than other developed countries and the resulting poverty rate for the elderly. The present study analyzes the main factors of catastrophic healthcare expenditure and their changes by year, based on data from the Korea Health Panel. One of the reasons for such increase was the change in economic activity: The increase in catastrophic healthcare expenditure for those who stopped economic activity in Model IV was 1.4 times higher than that for those who have never been in economic activity for the said period. In the present study, changes in economic activity and income showed high correlation with the level of catastrophic healthcare expenditure and the group in which their economic activity has changed faced more catastrophic healthcare expenditure due to the low coverage of the National Health Insurance.
KEYWORDS
Catastrophic healthcare expenditure refers to a case where healthcare expenditure of a household exceeds a specific limit, and it is on the rise every year as Korea is facing the aging population, which is three to four times faster than other developed countries and the resulting poverty rate for the elderly. The present study analyzes the main factors of catastrophic healthcare expenditure and their changes by year, based on data from the Korea Health Panel. One of the reasons for such increase was the change in economic activity: The increase in catastrophic healthcare expenditure for those who stopped economic activity in Model IV was 1.4 times higher than that for those who have never been in economic activity for the said period. In the present study, changes in economic activity and income showed high correlation with the level of catastrophic healthcare expenditure and the group in which their economic activity has changed faced more catastrophic healthcare expenditure due to the low coverage of the National Health Insurance.
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