• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.63-81
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• 2006

This study was conducted to evaluate needs and intention of hospitals and clinics to join network with private health insurance, and to discover obstacles of participation of the networks. We carried out the questionnaire survey of the network managers of 236 medical institutions between December 27th, 2005 and January 25th, 2006. The result showed that the participation intention of network were different to the type of hospitals. Primary care clinics answered that participation intention and possibility were low. Secondary care hospitals was relatively affirmative regarding a network participation. Tertiary hospitals responded that they need the network with private health insurance, but participation possibility was lower than needs. The reason is that they worried about the side effect of the network with private health insurance. Depending on the type of hospitals, expected benefits from networking with private health insurance were different. We found that hospitals which already had affiliation with other hospitals answered in the affirmative regarding the network with private health insurance. In conclusion, to increase the effectiveness of network systems between hospital and private health insurance, the network is expected to consider different needs of the each hospital.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7981-7986
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• 2015

Background: As coverage of public insurance is not sufficient to cover diagnosis or treatment of cancer, having private health insurance is important to prepare for unexpected expenses of cancer. The purpose of this study was to assess factors associated with having private cancer insurance, considering gender among the socio-demographic factors and health behavior. Materials and Methods: We used data from the 2011 Korea Health Panel, which included 10,871 participants aged 20 years and older. Socio-demographics, health behavior, and perceived cancer risk were the independent variables and having private cancer insurance was the dependent variable. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with having private cancer insurance. Results: The variables relating to middle age, higher education, higher household income, married men, and the perceived cancer risk groups of 1-10% and 11-30% were significantly associated with having private cancer insurance. Additionally, females who had private non-cancer health insurance were positively associated with the dependent variables (OR=1.36; 95% CI=1.17-1.57). Education, smoking status, exercise, and perceived cancer risk possibility were significantly associated with having private cancer insurance only among women. The men lowered the overall percentages of those having private cancer insurance (OR=0.53, 95% CI=0.45-0.63). Conclusions: We found that there were significant differences between men and women who had private cancer insurance. Women with private cancer insurance are more likely to follow precautionary health behavior than men. This could be interpreted as resulting from masculine ideologies. It is important to make males recognize the seriousness of the cancer risk. In general, household income was highly associated with private cancer insurance. These results reveal an inequity among the buyers of private cancer insurance in terms of economic status level, education level, and health condition.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.92-105
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• 2020

This study was aimed to identify factors affecting the purchase of indemnity private health insurance and analyze its effect on healthcare utilization by gender. This study analyzed data of the 2010-2016 Korea Health Panel Survey using panel logit model and panel regression model. Men were less likely to purchase indemnity private health insurance than women. Self-rated health and unmet need for healthcare in women were related to insurance purchases. In men, married people and residents of the metropolitan area were more likely to purchase. The indemnity private health insurance did not affect the women's outpatient expenses per visit, but for men it increased. The indemnity private health insurance significantly increased women's inpatient expenses per admission, but it did not affect men's inpatient expenses. This study confirmed gender differences in the factors affecting the purchase of indemnity health insurance and the impact of indemnity health insurance on healthcare utilization. This suggests that gender differences should be taken into account in private health insurance research and institutional operation.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.109-146
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• 1997

This study explores the feasibility of activating private health insurance in Korea. The rationale for expanding private supplementary health insurance can be found in many cases of health care reforms in the European countries. Private health insurance can not only relieve the financial distress of the government health insurance programs but also offer the medical institutions incentives to improve the quality of medical care. In Korea there is no supplementary health insurance that reimburses for various kinds of diseases based on a well designed fee schedule. Recently, the cancer insurance is the best seller in the health related insurance market. As observed in the U. S. case, the cancer insurance which pays the predetermined amount (indemnity coverage) regardless of the medical charges incurred to the patient is limited in its coverage for the insured. To provide better protection against catastrophic diseases, the government should give insurance companies incentives to develop health insurance products that cover multiple diseases rather than a single disease. Consumers can hardly understand and compare complex insurance products. To resolve the information asymmetries, the government should publish a consumer report that compare various health insurance products in a user friendly way. In the long run, insurance companies will plan to sell health insurance products that charge risk related premium only when insurers accumulate the underwriting know-hows, the government shares data on various health statistics including claims and demographics, and risk pool for high risk patients is well established and subsidized by the government.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.329-335
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• 2007

Objectives : To identify the effects of supplemental private health insurance on health care utilization and expenditure under the mandatory National Health Insurance(NHI) system in Korea. Methods : The data were collected by the National Cancer Center in Korea. Cancer patients who were newly diagnosed with stomach (ICD code, C16), lung(C33-C34), liver (C22), colorectal cancer(C18-C20) or breast(C50) cancer were included as study subjects. Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire from face-to-face interviews, the hospital Order Communication System (OCS) and medical records. Clinical, socio-demographic and private health insurance related factors were also gathered. The differences of health care utilization and expenditure were compared between those who have private health insurance and those who do not using t-test and multivariable regression analysis. Results : Individuals with private health insurance spent larger inpatient costs than those without, but no differences were found in utilization in other service such as hospital admissions, hospital days and physician visits. Conclusions : We found that private health insurance exerts a significant effect on the health care expenditure in inpatient service. These study results can provide a rational basis to plan a national health policy regarding private health insurance. Further studies are needed to investigate the impacts of private health insurance on cancer patients' outcomes and survival rates.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.51-64
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• 2017

Objectives : This study examined the effect of private health insurance on medical care utilization by subscription type. Methods : The data used were the six waves of the Korea Health Panel (2009-2014), and 16,187 persons were the subjects of the analysis. We performed a panel regression with a fixed effects model. Results : Indemnity private health insurance was positively related to the number of physician visits, number of admissions, and total length of stays. However, fixed-benefit private health insurance was not related to medical care utilization. Conclusions : The result of this study, which shows the difference by subscription type in the effect of private health insurance on medical care utilization, suggests that continuous monitoring of indemnity private health insurance is needed in the future.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.48-56
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• 2019

Purpose: As an interest in the elderly medical expenses increases, elderly people are increasingly purchasing indemnity private health insurance. Authors tried to investigate factors of having the indemnity private health insurance among the elderly people aged 65-75 years. Methods: We conducted panel logit regression analysis on 2,465 subjects as of 2016 using Korean Health Panel from 2010 to 2016. The dependent variable was whether to enroll in the indemnity private health insurance. The explanatory variables included socio-demographic characteristics, economic factors, health status, and health behaviors. Findings: As a result of the analysis of factors of purchasing indemnity private health insurances, it was analyzed that people with larger family, educated, pensioner, high household income or no disability were more likely to have indemnity private health insurance. Practical Implications: Considering the results of this study, the factor of purchasing indemnity private health insurance among elderly people were more likely to be their economic than demographic characteristics such as sex, age, and marital status. Policy makers should make efforts to reduce the burden on the elderly medical expense and to improve equity of medical use through institutional improvement such as raising age limit and lowering premium of indemnity private health insurance and expansion of public health insurance.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.115-125
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• 2014

This study tries to investigate inequity in supplementary private health insurance insured in terms of the analysis of insurance insured general characteristics and to analyze the influence of supplementary private health insurance on their admission and their outpatient medical utilization behavior. As a result of the analysis of the general characteristics of supplementary private health insurances insured, it has turned out that men, persons at low ages, people with a spouse and chronic diseases, and persons with a high income have applied such insurances more. We can also tell that low-income classes have difficulty in applying private health insurances as people in the fifth income quintile have applied such insurances about 9 times as much as those in the first income quintile. The analysis of supplementary private health insurance insured health care utilization behavior has revealed that both male and female insured aged less than 55 and without chronic diseases have increases the number of their use of health care, their patient charge, and their medical cost per visit.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.295-305
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• 2012

This study analyzes actual conditions of private health insurance empirically by using the decision to join Korea Health Panel data. First, the study investigates how sociodemographic factors influence joining the private health insurance. Next, the relationship between the private health insurance membership and the frequency of medical service utilization is analyzed. The main results of these analyses can be summarized as follows: the socially vulnerable are less likely to join private health insurance relative to the middle and upper classes. The frequency of medical service utilization of private insurance members is relatively higher. This fact contains the possibility that the middle and upper classes are able to receive more medical services through private health insurance membership, while the socially vulnerable have difficulty with obtaining medical services in spite of much need. Therefore, policies are needed which manage the private health insurance more effectively and secure the publicity of health service socially.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.63-70
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• 2017

Although the National Health Insurance, many people sign up for private health insurance to alleviate their financial burden. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between private health insurance and subjective financial burden about cost sharing. To confirm the effect we conducted the binary logistic regression by utilizing the Health Care Policy related to public survey. The private health insurance have a significantly association with the subjective financial burden about cost sharing. People who uninsured to purchase private health insurance were more likely to have the burden. Therefore, given the low participation rate of private medical insurance for high age and low income group, we suggest the need for redefining the role of private insurance to enhance the function and resolve equity issues to prepare for the burden.