• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.23-34
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• 2012

As the quality of life grows, the role of cultural facilities in urban areas is becoming more important. However, due to various reasons, the location of these facilities shows the geographical imbalance between urban regions. Even though provision of road network can improve this kind of urban problem, in many countries, the provision of urban infrastructure plays a role which is magnifies the cultural gap between regions and socio-economic classes. The findings of this study are as follows. First of all, the inequality of accessibility to cultural facilities is shown over the period. Cross-sectional data shows that the higher the income of a region, the higher the accessibility index(AI) of the zone to cultural facilities at any time. Next, the provision of road network contributes the improvement of AI of high income region. Finally the provision of new facilities has a tendency that these kind of facilities are located to make AI of high income zone better. It means that the decision making by city government intensifies the geographical inequality. This result would be very useful in the decision making process for determining the number and the location of cultural facilities and other similar urban infrastructure as well. Also it will be helpful for the selection of optimal location which considered not only physical distances but also social equalities.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.113-133
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• 2004

Although National Health Insurance(NHI) in the South Korea has guaranteed access to health insurance coverage to virtually all the people, a significant portion of out-of-pocket spending can create substantial financial burdens for some beneficiaries, particularly those with low incomes. Previous studies have estimated the magnitude of out-of-pocket spending by types of chronic illness or in- and out-patients. Prior estimates, however, have not given a complete picture of the impact of health care costs on lower-income populations. The result from this study shows that 20 percent of beneficiaries in the lowest-income quintile spent more than twelve percent of their household equivalent income out-of-pocket health services, whether they were enrolled in a Health care services or not. In comparison, the beneficiaries in the highest-income quintile level spent only 2 percent of their income out-of-pocket on health care. Also, the regression analysis suggests that age, household income, number of chronic illness, type of hospital in addition to the number of usage may affect the size of out-of-pocket spending.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.31 no.3 s.62
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• pp.460-470
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• 1998

By expanding health insurance, customers will carry a smaller burden of medical costs. As a result, the number of visits to a physician increase and this result in the improvement of medical accessibility. But medical care utilization may be changed not only by insurance status but also by socio-demographic factor, economic status and other factors. The question thus remains, at which level of accessibility and what price of medical care service in health insurance will the customer and the medical care service be satisfied. The price of medical care service ls comprised of the customer's out-of-pocket money and the costs not covered by health insurance. If the price of medical care services in health insurance are appropriate, medical care utilization should not differ because of the difference in income status or the acuteness of illness. But If the price is not adequate, low income groups will receive relatively low medical care utilization, particularly in the case of chronic disease. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the differences in medical care utilization among the various income groups and those with varying acuteness of illness. The major hypotheses to test in this study are : (i) whether there are differences in medical care utilization among different income groups exist, (ii) whether differences in medical care utilization among different income groups exist with the hospital type. (iii) whether differences in medical care utilization among different income groups exist with the acuteness of illness and with age. The data was collected from the JongRo District Health Insurance Society in Seoul. A total of 118,336 persons were selected as the final sample for this study. The major findings of this study were as follows; 1. The volume of ambulatory utilization among users was statistically significant by income level. 2. Among different income groups, the volume of ambulatory utilization was statistically significant by the acuteness of illness. 3. Higher income groups with chronic diseases had a greater volume of ambulatory utilization than other groups.