• Health Policy and Management
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.167-203
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• 1992

The effects of regional health insurance on access to ambulatory care are examined in this paper. Access is measured as use-disability ratios. The data are collected in a household interview survey at Hwachon county before and after the introduction of regional health insurance. Before the introduction of regional health insurance, low-income class has less contacts with physicians than high-income class. This disparity in accessibility among economic classes is reduced with the health insurance coverage, but not removed, even after adjusting for health need.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.290-300
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• 1982

The study deals with the empirical research on the condition of nutrient intake of low income class which be represented by urban slum and rural area, with the analysis of the factors which might influence on the prevalent condition of nutrient- intake. The method of the research was based on the spot-survey with questionaires. The result is that the levels of nutrient-intake are below the standard requirement level of nutrients in both of urban slum and rural area. The level of nutrient intake in urban slum lies in approximately 50% of the standard requirement level and 80% of the standard requirement level in rural area. The extent of malnutrition was explained in terms of the amount of calorie, protein, calcium and iron. More than half of the population in the community are below the standard requirement level of the nutrient- intake. The problem of malnutrition was serious in urban slum than in rural areas, which made a good contrast with the result of Peru study. Deficiency in calcium was most serious. The factor analysis of the prevalent condition of malnutrition in low class suggests that 1) The function of local market in supplying food is not so effective in the sense that the quality of the foods purchased id the local market is poor. 2) Low level of knowledge, the consequent ignorance and the indifference to the nutrition and the low income led to malnutrition. The level of income and the education were significantly correlated to the nutrient-intake.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.119-128
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• 2001

This study gives information for the enterprise to map out a positive marketing strategy and facilitate a new product development by researching and analyzing the specific character of the high income woman-brackets. In order to do that, based upon the materials of the National Statistical office, I made a selection of the high income brackets, subdividing their scholastic ability into four serfs. The subject of the study was the women from twenties to sixties among customers of a high class dress shop in Taejeon. I made up 600 questionnaires for them. using 441 of these for the statistical analysis and making available the correlation analysis, the primary factor analysis, and $X^2$-test. This study is classified into the type of women customers purchasing clothes who are the high-income brackets. Intended to study a special quality of purchasing according to income. 1. The purchasing manner of the high-income brackets customers is exposed the luxurious vain purchasing manner, the rational reasonable manner, and idiosyncrasy individual manner in order 1) The consumer of the high-income brackets in general prefer to a high class clothes. In the contrast, low-income brackets prefer to rational reasonable consumption in spending money on clothes. 2) The favorite consumption manner of the high income brackets is the luxurious vain purchasing manner. This consumption values the more symbolic means the things show than owing the goods. 2. The higher standard of education and younger tends to be high in the luxurious, vain purchasing. 3. The unreasonable purchasing show an high irrelation at the impulse buying arid self-satisfaction. 4. Self-satisfaction shows the highest interrelation than any other variations in the concern of clothes. 5. The symbolic images which exerts an influence upon purchasing manner are the notable elements of constituting as growing older. 6. The high standard of education prefers to the rational resonable purchasing, but on the other hand shows a high rate at the unreasonable individual purchasing manner.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.54-62
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• 2003

Objectives : To assess the distribution of social support, and explore its effects on self-rated health status in a low income neighborhood of Seoul, Korea. Methods : In September 2001 we conducted a survey in a low income neighborhood of Seoul, Korea, in which 862 residents, aged 18 years or over, participated. We measured the general sociodemographic characteristics, self-rated health status and social support with the instrument developed from Korean translation of the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support survey (MOS-SSS) scale of the US. Logistic regression was used to identify the determinants of social support, and explore its effects on self-rated health status. Results : Lower social class, women or divorced people had much less social support compared to higher social class, men or those never married, respectively. Those families on much lower income also received less social support. Social support has a positive impact on the self-rated health status, which remains statistically significant even when other relevant variables are adjusted. Conclusions : This study suggests that social support has an important role in health, and the socially disadvantaged have lower social support. Therefore, to improve the health status of the poor, it is necessary to encourage community participation, and develop strategies that could strengthen their provision of social support.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.706-715
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• 2011

This study aims to identify the dietary patterns relevant to obesity of Korean women among low income classes. Adults 20-64 years were used as study subjects from the data of 2005 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We compared obese and normal-weight women in terms of their nutrients intake, diet quality and food patterns. Diet quality was assessed by using the Nutritional Adequacy Ratio (NAR) and Index of Nutritional Quality (INQ). Our results showed higher prevalence of obesity among lower socioeconomic status women. In men, there were no significant associations with socioeconomic status and prevalence of obesity. Higher risk of nutritional inadequacy was observed among obese women compared to normal weight women. Obese women showed significantly lower INQ for nutrients such as Ca, Fe, Vitamin A, Thiamin, Riboflavin and Vitamin C compared to other women. They consumed significantly higher amount of rice (p < 0.05) and lower amount of vegetables (p < 0.01). By contrast, obese men from low income classes showed higher intake of those nutrients. Obese men also consumed significantly higher amount of meats than normal weight men. Therefore, this study suggests that gender-specific approaches based on economic situation should be considered in developing the intervention program for managing obesity for low income classes.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.364-370
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• 2015

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate nutritional status in middle-class adults compared with low income or high income adults according to gender difference. Methods: Data from the 2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was used. A total of 7,082 adults aged from 30 to 64 were included and classified according to household income level into three groups. Dietary data was collected using 24-hr recall methods. Results: Most nutrients including energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals such as iron and calcium differed according to income levels. Iron intake of middle-class men was higher than that of the lowest income group, whereas that of middle-class women was similar to that of the lowest income group. In addition, no significant difference in carbohydrate, protein, fat, thiamin, and niacin intakes per 1,000 kcal and iron intake was found between the middle and high income group only in male subjects. In summary, our results showed that the relationship between nutritional status and income level as a socioeconomic parameter could vary according to gender difference. Conclusion: According to our results, it could be suggested that not only the lowest income people but also middle class women should be concerned in development of nutritional policies. Gender difference should be considered. It is a very meaningful implication for application to policy for obesity prevention or intervention.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.1-20
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• 2004

This study is to examine relationships of several socioeconomic position indicators with mortality risk in a nationwide longitudinal study of South Korea. The Korea Labor & Income Panel Study, conducted on a probability sample of urban South Korean households by Korea Labor Institute, contains date of death information for the decedents which were used to estimate relative risks of mortality and their $95\%$ confidence intervals (CI) with Cox regression analysis. A total of 125 men and women among 8,415 subjects died between 1998 and 2002. Socioeconomic differentials in mortality were observed after adjustment for sex and age. Those with less than 12-year education had 1.90 times $(95\%\;CI=1.25-2.91)$ greater mortality risk than those with 12-year education or more. Greater mortality risks were also found among those with low occupational class and manual occupation. The magnitude of differentials in mortality risks between occupational class were similar in two different approaches to measuring women's occupational class: (1) approach 1 where women, married or not, retain their own occupational class, and (2) approach 2 where married women are assigned their husbands' occupational class. Relative risks of dying among those with low household Income were 1.62 $(95\%\; CI=1.08-2.42)$ compared with the counterparts. Those who reported economic hardship at the time of survey in 1998 had greater risk of mortality $(RR=1.83,\;95\%\;CI=1.21-2.78)$ than those who did not. In conclusion, increased social discourse and policy discussions about these health inequalities are needed in Korean society. Future studies should explore the causes and mechanisms of socioeconomic mortality inequalities.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.625-633
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of private insurance revenues and household spending on household income inequality. To this end, we conducted a concentration index and concentration curve analysis for the income level of medical panel survey data in 2015. The main results are as follows. First, the household income concentration ratio is 0.3580, which means that income is concentrated in the high income group, and the degree of inequality is considerably large. Second, although the portion of the private insurance benefits was small on the high-income household, it helped to strengthen the benefits concentration on this group. Third, the low income group has a large self-pay medical expense. Finally, the index of the income excluding the burden of the total medical expenses in the household income was 0.3676, so that even accounting for medical expenses, the income was concentrated in the high income class. Therefore, private insurance benefits and medical expenses were all contributing factors to the inequality of household income, and this study provides the essential materials for research and policy planning which could lead to the convergence of different fields.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.166-172
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• 2023

Background: To improve the support low-income individuals' medical expenses, it is necessary to think about ways to enhance the Catastrophic Health Expenditure Support Program. This study proposes expanding support criteria and changing the income standard. Methods: This study conducted simulations using national data from the National Health Insurance Service. Simulations performed for people who have used health services (n=172,764) in 2022 to confirm the Catastrophic Health Expenditure Support Program's size based on changes to the subject selection criteria. Results: As a result of the simulation with expanded criteria, the expected budget was estimated to increase between Korean won (KRW) 13.2 (11.5%) and 138.6 billion (37.4%), and the number of recipients increased between 41,979 (48.9%) and 150,317 (76.1%). The results of the simulation for the change in income criteria (applied to health insurance levels below the 50th percentile) estimated the expected budget to increase between KRW -8.9 (-7.8%) and 55.6 billion (15.0%) and the number of recipients to increase between -8,704 (-10.1%) and 41,693 (21.1%) compared to the current standard. Conclusion: The 2023 Catastrophic Health Expenditure Support Program's criteria were expanded as per the 20th Presidential Office's national agenda to alleviate the burden of medical expenses on the low-income class. In addition, The Catastrophic Health Expenditure Support Program needs to be integrated with other medical expense support policies in the mid- to long-term, and a foundation must be prepared to ensure the consistency of each system.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.17-47
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• 2016

This paper aims to analysis working-time of Korea focusing on "the difference and the distribution" by a stratum. Classifying working-time into four categories including marginal part-time, part-time work, standard-time work and long-time working, it compares the relative distribution by income quintile. The outcome is as following : 20% of low-ranking income quintile are (marginal) part-time working, 60% from income quintile 2 to 4 are in long-time working and 20% of top-ranking income quintile are in the standard-time working in overall. Working-time classes can be divided up into three: short time-low income of type 1, long time-medium income of type 2 and standard time-high income of type 3. Analysing working time type, the low wage-short time, medium wage-long time and high wage-standard time by the wage per month and low wage-very long time, medium wage-long time and high wage-standard time by the wage per hours are confirmed. Also, stratification of working-time has been intensified in terms of age, jobs and work status. Policy implication from this study is that the increase of minimum wage to the lowest income class and creation of employment by the reduction of working-time to the medium income class could be effective policies.