Korean J Prev Med.  1989 Dec;22(4):578-590.

A Study on the Insurance Contribution and Health Care Utilization of the Regional Medical Insurance Scheme

• Lee SI
• Choi HR
• Ahn HS
• Kim YI
• Shin YS

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the equity in the regional insurance scheme through analysis of the computerized data from one regional insurance society and National Federation of Medical Insurance. We analysed the insurance contribution and benefit by the classes based on total and income-related contribution per household. The major findings of this study are as follows: 1. The average proportion of income-related contribution among the total was 39.2% and the upper classes show higher proportion of the income-related contribution. 2. The upper classes show higher health care utilization rate than the lower classes. It suggests that the lower classes have relatively large unmet medical needs. 3. The analysis through the Lorenz curve reveals that there exists transference of contributions from the upper to lower classes. But the cumulative percentage of insurance benefit is smaller than that of the number of the insured. It implies that regional medical insurance scheme in Korea has still some inequity in the context of social security principles.

Keyword

Regional Medical Insurance; Health Care Utilization; Transference of Contributions; Lorenz Cure; Equity

MeSH Terms

Delivery of Health Care*
Family Characteristics
Insurance Benefits
Insurance*
Korea
Social Security