In-depth Analysis of the Korea Health Panel Survey Data : focused on medical service utilization

Abstract

The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs and the National Health Insurance Service have carried out the Korea Health Panel Survey (KHP) since 2008, and provide KHP data which includes not only healthcare services use and healthcare expenditures but also individual, social, and environmental variables. The objective of this study is to analyze the association between healthcare service use and individual, social, and environmental variables. This report consisted of five studies. In the first study, we analyzed the healthcare service use of the elderly using KHP survey data 2009-2018. Hospitalization increased as the age of the elderly increased, but the outpatient service use did not increase after the 85 years. Household income made effect on the hospitalization positively and on the unmet medical need negatively. Second study showed that the outpatient doctor visit reduced slightly from 28.1 per year (in previous year of retirement) to 27.3 per year (third year after retirement). In addition, educational attainment and household income influenced the outpatient medical service use. Third study analyzed the health status and healthcare service use among the young who lived alone. Youths living alone had a higher smoking rate and experienced more unmet medical need than those with household members. In forth study, hospitalization for preventable disease was compared between persons insured in National Health Insurance (NHI) and recipients in Medical Aid Program, and found that there was no significant difference between them using propensity score matching. The fifth study examined the association between self-reported health and outpatient medical service use. It showed that the deterioration of self-reported health can lead to the increase in the medical expenditure.