Yonsei Med J.  1983 Jun;24(1):6-32. 10.3349/ymj.1983.24.1.6.

Study on Hospital Care Services between Insured and Non-insured Patients for Selected Diagnoses in Korea

• Yu SH

• KMID: 1758483
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.1983.24.1.6

Abstract

Rapidly expanding health insurance programs have accompanied the rapid economic development of Korea over the past five years. Now more than thirty percent of the total population is covered by the various health insurance plans. The objective of this study is to discover differences that may exist in medical care services in terms of quantity, length of stay, charges and quality of care in treating insured and non-insured patients. Five common diagnostic categories (name1y, appendectomy cholecystectomy, tonsillectomy, Cesarean section and respiratory tract infection) were examined. The results confirmed the major hypotheses of the study, although some of the results were in the expected direction but not statistically significant: total hospital charges and charges per day were higher among the non-insured; volume of services was greater among the insured; length of stay was longer among the insured; quality of care did not show statistically significant differences in treatment outcomes and complications.

Keyword

Health services; Health insurance; Hospital care; Korea

MeSH Terms

Adult
Diagnosis-Related Groups
Female
Health Services/standards*
Hospitalization/economics*
Human
Insurance, Health*
Insurance, Health, Reimbursement
Korea
Length of Stay
Male
Middle Age
Quality of Health Care