• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.31-65
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• 2012

We study the sustainability of the current fiscal policy of Korea, and the effects of the social welfare policy expansion, which has been recently discussed among the political circles, on the government budget and the generational equity, using generational accounting. We follow the generational accounting approach, considering the fact that most of the social welfare policies are the entitlement programs, which imposes the limitation of the policy maker's discretion to control the cost of their provision. The social welfare expenditure will change due to the change in the policy environments of the future, such as population aging. Therefore, we need to take into account the government cash flow of the future as well as of the present to investigate its effects on the fiscal sustainability, which implies that the national debt or the budget balance is not a proper index for the investigation. Our findings are as follows. The current fiscal policies are not sustainable, and the long-term budgetary imbalance is shown very serious. The required tax adjustment, which is defined as the percentage change of tax burden required to attain the long-term budgetary balance, is very large. Unless the level of the government expenditure is properly controlled, the tax burden and the social contribution level will rise to the untolerable level. Moreover, the expansion of the social welfare policies, which has been discussed among the political circles, will substantially increase the fiscal burden of the future generations. Even though the provision of the free lunch to the primary and the secondary school students, the free child care, and the discounted college tuition do not increase the fiscal burden much, because their magnitude at present is not large and will decrease due to the decrease in the number of the newborns and the students resulting from the fall in the fertility rate, that of the free health care service will increase tax burden of the future generations very much, because the magnitude of the government expenditure needed at present is very large and the population aging will further increase the magnitude of the health care expenditure. The findings indicate that the structural reforms, to prevent the explosive increase in the social welfare expenditure in the future, are necessary before the implementation of the welfare policy expansion. In particular, the cost control of the social transfers to the elderly needs to be made, because the speed of the population aging of Korea is among the highest in the world. The findings also indicate that the budget balance or the national debt can cause the fiscal illusion, which makes the Korean government budget look sound, even though the fiscal policy will rapidly increase the social welfare expenditure in the future, as the population ages. The generational accounting, which takes into account the cash flow of the future as well as of the present, unlike the budgetary balance and the national debt, which shows the results of the government financial activities of the past and the present, is a useful method to overcome the fiscal illusion.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.374-378
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• 2019

After the announcement of Moon Jae-in Government's plan (Moon's Care) for Benefit Expansion in National Health Insurance in August 2017, it is necessary to monitor the effects of the policy, especially household out-of-pocket payments (OOP). This paper aims to observe the current status and trend of OOP in Korea. Current health expenditure (CHE) was 144.4 trillion won in 2018, which accounts for 8.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) increased 9.7% from the previous year. Although GDP's share of CHE has been close to the average of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, the public fund's share was 59.8% of the total in 2018, which was lower than the OECD average of 73.5%. OOP's share was 32.9% in 2018, which decreased from 37.4% in 2008. The share of OOP of non-covered services was 20.0% in 2018, which decreased from 22.9% in 2008. The share of cost-sharing with third-party payers was 12.9% in 2018, which decreased from 14.5% in 2008. The OOP of non-covered services was significantly decreased in hospital and inpatient curative care, but the OOP of non-covered services was significantly increased in the medical clinic. The effect of Moon's Care was not showed in OOP through the results of 2017 and 2018, but further monitoring is needed because the Moon's Care is progressing and the observational period is short.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.96-110
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• 2021

Korea is faced with the challenge of adapting to the world's fastest - growing low birthrate, aging society, and low growth with low interest rate era. With low fertility and aging population, the factors of financial income of health insurance are decreasing, and the increase of public interest in health, high cost medical technology and the development of medicine are leading to increase expenditure of health insurance. In this study, I will examine the strengthen protection of health insurance, financial stabilization, and fairness of medical care. First, the present status and limitations of health insurance were identified through domestic policy report, domestic and foreign literature, and precedent research. Second, the foreign health insurance policy measures to stabilize the finances were examined separately. Based on this study, in order to maintain sustainable health insurance through reinforcement and financial stabilization of health insurance, the current financial income structure of health insurance must be renovated. It will be necessary to expand government subsidies and discover new tax revenues. In addition, a policy to save finances by reorganizing the medical bill payment system and medical delivery system will also be needed.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.795-807
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• 2002

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to develop a community-based nursing center model that can provide health promotion for infants and toddlers as well as a research and practice site for nursing faculty and students. Methods: Review of current health care system and health promotion programs, and workshops with brain-storming were carried out to identify needy areas of services to be provided by the nursing center. Finally, the community nursing center model was developed through expert consultation and filed visits. Results: The services and programs were developed for infants and toddlers residing in Seoul area. These services and programs include growth and developmental screening, environment and health problem assessment, infant stimulation and parent education, and self-help group. Full-time and part-time staff nurses and nurse practitioners will provide those services and offer home visiting if needed. Database system, health information system, and trainers' training programs were developed as well. Conclusion: The nursing center model developed in this study will ensure clients direct access to nursing care and increase of autonomy and accountability of nursing practices. The nursing center model focused on disease prevention and health promotion will enhance the quality of life of the infants, toddlers and their families as well as to decrease national health care expenditure.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.305-314
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• 2016

Background: The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of and factors associated with long-term care (LTC) utilization under public long-term care insurance (LTCI) among end-of-life older adults in Korea. Methods: Using a 5% sample of older people aged 65 or older and their health and LTC insurance data, two-part model analyses were conducted. We compared LTC uses and their determinants during the last year of life among decedents in the year 2010 with those of survivors. We also compared the medical uses of the same sample with their LTC uses. Results: The end-of-life elderly were more likely to use LTC, and their expenditure on LTC was higher than their counterparts. Whether or not older people used LTC during their last year of life was significantly affected by age, sex, health insurance, household income, and living alone; however, LTC costs of the decedents were only affected by functional status, which may have been due to the reimbursement scheme of the current LTCI, which is mainly based on functional dependency level. For the survivors, having chronic diseases significantly increased the likelihood of LTC use, which was not the case for the decedents. End-of-life elderly with relatively low social economic status were more likely to use the LTC other than medical services, while the health conditions affected their medical uses most significantly. Conclusion: The study findings provide key information for predicting demand related to the increasing LTC needs of Korean older people at the end of life.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.899-907
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• 1996

This study was conducted to examine how Korean women mange energy metabolism during lactation. Eighteen women recruited were healthy, had normal pregnancies and were required to breast-feed their babies exclusively for at least 12wks. During the study period, all subjects were visited and interviewed five times : 3d, 9d, 4wk, 8wk, and 12wk lactation. Body composition variables were analyzed by a bioelectrical impedance method, energy intakes were assessed by using the inventory-weighing method, energy expenditure were determined by recording daily activities, and milk energy output was investigated from the amount of milk production and the gross energy content of milk. The subjects consumed less energy than current recommended allowance all over the study period, but compatible with fairly adequate lactational performance. They responded the additional energy stress of lactation by enhancing metabolic efficiency, increasing energy intakes, reduction physical activities and mobilizing body reserves. Another finding in this study was that the reduction in body fat-free mass may be the one way that women meet the energy demands of lactation like the reduction in body fat mass. The results from this study suggest that current recommended additional energy need during lactation, 2.09MJ/d(500kcal/d), is too high for healthy Korean women. Our data also indicate that the changes of body composition and energy balance at earlier postpartum are extremely different from those at later periods.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2016

Readmission which reflects capacity to manage patients and general level of medical services has been known for one of the causes of medical expenditure due to inefficient service. Compared to disease-specific readmission, hospital wide readmission (HWR) is relatively easy to understand, and has merit to get over limitation of collateral medical services assessment; therefore, a growing interest in development and usage of readmission indicator as quality of care indicator focusing on all-disease is detected. In this study, we investigate current state of risk standardized readmission rate indicator used in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, and examine the considerations when using readmission rate as quality indicator in Korea. Differences in risk-adjustment methods were showed among countries. The United States do not control race not to hide socio-demographic factors on readmission. Canada shows differentiation compared to other countries about reflecting community factors. All three-countries utilize readmission rate as monitoring quality of care rather than incentives or penalty due to the fact that readmission rate could not represent the whole quality of hospital and has a limitation at controlling socio-economic factors. Therefore, for usage readmission rate as quality indicator in Korea, preparing readmission classification standard for Korean medical environment and additional methods for acquiring information by using discharge summary is need. Moreover, continued discussion with clinical specialists is needed for obtain clinical reliability and validity.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.37-47
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the effect of adjusted out-of-pocket maximum rules in the 'differential co-payment ceiling', which means having a higher burden of co-payment, that expanded to the entire ceiling level in long-stay admission patients in long-term care hospitals(LTCH). Methodology: We used health insurance claim data between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022 received from the National Health Insurance Service. The study populations were inpatients in long-term care hospitals more than 1 days during the study period. We performed the difference in characteristics of the LTCH patient of the differential and general ceiling by the chi-square test. We estimated the change of the population, cost, and co-payments per person under the assumption of restructuring. Finding: Based on adjusted out-of-pocket maximum rules in 2023, it was expected that the number of benefits decreases at the high-income level while increasing at the low-income level. The burden of health expenditure after reimbursement of co-payment ceiling, is expected to increase by 65.1% in the highest medical necessity, whereas the low medical necessity would decreases compared to 2022. Practical Implications: The results demonstrate that the current out-of-pocket maximum rules do not reflect the needs of medical necessity. This study suggested the need to reflect the medical necessity in LTCH on the out-of-pocket maximum rules in the future.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.291-300
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• 2012

Objectives: We aimed to estimate the annual socioeconomic burden of coronary heart disease (CHD) in Korea in 2005, using the National Health Insurance (NHI) claims data. Methods: A prevalence-based, top-down, cost-of-treatment method was used to assess the direct and indirect costs of CHD (International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision codes of I20-I25), angina pectoris (I20), and myocardial infarction (MI, I21-I23) from a societal perspective. Results: Estimated national spending on CHD in 2005 was $2.52 billion. The majority of the spending was attributable to medical costs (53.3%), followed by productivity loss due to morbidity and premature death (33.6%), transportation (8.1%), and informal caregiver costs (4.9%). While medical cost was the predominant cost attribute in treating angina (74.3% of the total cost), premature death was the largest cost attribute for patients with MI (66.9%). Annual per-capita cost of treating MI, excluding premature death cost, was $3183, which is about 2 times higher than the cost for angina ($1556). Conclusions: The total insurance-covered medical cost ($1.13 billion) of CHD accounted for approximately 6.02% of the total annual NHI expenditure. These findings suggest that the current burden of CHD on society is tremendous and that more effective prevention strategies are required in Korea.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.133-142
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• 2015

This study aimed to identify the exercise intensity associated with four common physical activities for adults (running, skipping rope, walking, and muscle strength exercises) and two horticultural activities (creating a vegetable bed and garden maintenance). For this experiment, 19 males (mean age: $25.8{\pm}2.3$ years) randomly participated in the activities at a glasshouse at Konkuk University. Each of the six activities lasted for 5 minutes; the subjects rested for 5 minutes during intervals between the activities. A portable metabolic analyzer was used to store the oxygen and energy consumption values obtained upon measurement of each activity. In addition, a wireless heart rate monitor was used to measure the subjects' heart rate. According to the results, the four types of physical activities and two horticultural activities carried out by the subjects are moderate- to high-intensity activities [i.e., $3.8{\pm}0.9$ to $9.9{\pm}2.1$ metabolic equivalents (METs)]. Running ($9.9{\pm}2.1$ METs) and skipping rope ($8.8{\pm}2.2$ METs) were categorized as high-intensity physical activities, whereas creating a vegetable bed ($5.0{\pm}1.2$ METs), walking ($4.9{\pm}0.8$ METs), muscle strength exercises ($4.5{\pm}1.3$ METs), and garden maintenance ($3.8{\pm}0.9$ METs) were classified as moderate-intensity physical activities. The exercise intensities of horticultural activities in this study were similar to those of walking and muscle strength exercises. Therefore, participating in these horticultural activities is expected to garner health benefits similar to those reaped from the physical activities described in the current study.