• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.18-35
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• 2000

Universal service policy is the core of telecommunications policy and, therefore, in many countries, governments have been accomplished universal service as the critical goal of telecommunications policy. In the past when the market was under monopoly, the monopolist had the responsibility of supplying for universal service, whereas supply cost complemented through internal assistance. From 1998 when WTO basic telecommunications negotiation took effect, however, telecommunications markets fully opened, it was impossible to supply of universal service under the past system. Therefore, governments of major countries are trying to renew laws and institutions for policies compatible with competition environments. In this paper, I analyse and compare major countries' policies for the universal services and try to find out policy implication for Korea.

• Journal of Communications and Networks
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.600-609
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• 2016

In this paper, we propose a two-stage base station (BS) sleeping scheme to save energy consumption in cellular networks. The BS sleeping mode is divided into a light sleeping stage and a deep sleeping stage according to whether there is a user in the BS's coverage. In the light sleeping stage, a BS will retain its coverage and frequently switch between the on state and the doze state according to the service characteristics. While in the deep sleeping stage analysis, the BS will shut down its coverage, and neighbor BSs will patch the coverage hole. Several closed-form formulas are derived to demonstrate the power consumption in each sleeping stage and the stage switching conditions are discussed to minimize the average power consumption. The average traffic delay caused by BS sleeping and the average deep sleeping rate under a given traffic load have also been studied. In addition, it is shown that BS sleeping is not always possible because of the limited quality of service (QoS) requirements. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can effectively reduce the average BS power consumption, at the cost of some extra traffic delay. In summary, our proposed framework provides an essential understanding of the design of future green networks that aim to take full advantage of different stages of BS sleeping to obtain the best energy efficiency.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.89-99
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• 2018

Objectives : To compare the degree of achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) among 39 developing countries in Africa and to investigate the correlation between health care financing and the UHC index. Methods : For data, 14 UHC indexes were used in 2015 supplied by the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, this study used a 10% of threshold point corresponding to the catastrophic health expenditures and a 25% of threshold points as a health care financing index. Results : It was found that there were significant difference among Least Low Developed Countries (LLDCs), Other Low Income Countries (Other LICs), Lower Middle Income Countiies (LMICs), Upper Middle Income Countires (UMICs) to compare the average value by nation on the UHC index. This study showed that the UHC index of LLDCs was lowest, but the average value was higher as it moved towards LMICs and UMICs. In addition, it was found that there was an average value difference among the groups like LLDCs, Other LICs, LMICs and UMICs. As a result of comparison, it was found that the spending of household health expenditure increased as LLDCs moved towards UMICs when the burden of household health expenditure was 25%. Conclusions : This study aimed to compare the UHC indexes of African nations and to investigate the correlation between the degree of spending of total expenditure on health and burden of household health expenditure and UHC, and its effect.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.210-216
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• 2018

National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) has put a great effort on extending life expectancy, for last 40 years. The system has also made remarkable outcomes in achieving universal health coverage. However, it is facing challenges of low health insurance benefits and sustainability risk due to low birth rate and aging society at the same time. To overcome the difficulties and build a lifelong health security system for the nation, it is required for NHIS to make multilateral changes in its roles. Based on the quantitative growth achieved so far, NHIS needs to strive for the growth in quality by not only increasing coverage and reforming contribution imposition system, but also reorganizing the relevant systems such as lifelong health management support, rational adjustment to the medical fee, and benefit costs monitoring. In addition, it's important for NHIS to restructure the organizational culture by having specialty and communicating with people for high quality of administration and health insurance sustainability.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.185-193
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• 2016

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to examine the recognition and satisfaction of dental care customers after 1 year national health insurance coverage of dental scaling. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 477 dental care customers in Gyeongbuk, Busan, Yangsan, and Gyeonggido from July 18 to September 30, 2014 after receiving informed consents. The questionnaire consisted of general characteristics of the subjects(5 items), subjective awareness of oral health(4 items), recognition of scaling(5 items), and recognition and satisfaction of scaling health insurance(5 items). Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 program. Results: Those who recognized the national health insurance coverage of dental scaling accounted for 80.1 percent and 47.2 percent of them got the health insurance coverage via media advertisements. Those who received the scaling service by health insurance coverage accounted for 73.8% and 66.2% of them were very satisfied with the service. Among the customers, 91.8% were satisfied with scaling health allotment. There was a statistical significance between scaling health insurance and subjective oral condition recognition(p<0.01). Through the health insurance coverage scaling service, the oral health in Korea will improve much. Conclusions: The expansion of health insurance coverage of scaling service will provide the universal oral health care for all people. Owing to low cost service, people will actively try to come in contact with public health service in the future.

• Journal of Communications and Networks
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.49-58
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• 2006

One of the first decisions that a radio network designer must take is the location of base stations and the distance between them in order to give the best coverage to a region and, possibly, to reduce deployment costs. In this paper, the authors give an insight to this matter by presenting a possible solution to a real problem: Planning the base stations layout for a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) in the city of Barcelona. At the basis of this problem, there is the interdependence between coverage and capacity in a wideband-code division multiple access (W-CDMA) system, which is a new element in the planning of BS layout for mobile communications. This aspect has been first treated with an analytical study of the cell coverage range for a specific environment and service. The achieved results have been checked with the help of snapshot simulations together with a geographical information system (GIS) tool incorporated in the simulator that allows to perform analysis and to visualize results in a useful way. By using the simulator, it is also possible to study a more complex environment, that of a set of base stations providing multiple services to a large number of users.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.256-266
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• 2017

Background: Primary health care (PHC) plays a major role to ensure the basic right and equal distribution of the essential health care services. This study presents comparative analyses of PHC in Korea and Uzbekistan, discusses the existing scenario and the challenges, and provides recommendations. Methods: This study reviewed secondary data from Korea's National Statistical Information Service and the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Statistic, regulatory legislation, research reports, and policy papers by research and international institutions. We focus on comparing input and outcome health data, PHC structure, and health expenditure. Results: Overall health status of the population in Korea is better than in Uzbekistan; both countries achieved more than 95% immunization coverage. The reforms implemented in both countries provide initial health care service delivery. However, there are several challenges such as the distribution of the staff between urban and rural areas and interest of the graduates on specialization rather than working in PHC system. Conclusion: PHC plays an important role in the provision of medical services to the population, addressing both health and social problems; it is the best tool for achieving universal coverage for basic health needs of the population. The community health practitioners in Korea and nurses in Uzbekistan plays main role in universal coverage through providing essential health care services. Continuous reform of the PHC system should be directed to strengthen the capacity of the PHC staff in health promotion knowledge and activities as well as to encourage population to improve their own health.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.137-153
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• 2022

In the process of promoting policies to strengthen health insurance coverage, the relationship between public health insurance and private health insurance, along with the management of non-benefit, is also emphasized as a policy issue. First, the concept and scope of non-benefit were comparatively analyzed by country. Second, the interaction between the public and private health insurance was classified as 'large or small,' and the government's regulation and management policy on private health insurance was classified as 'strong or weak.' Korea has relatively smaller benefits covered by public health insurance, higher copayment expenses, and more areas and scope of non-benefits. In countries where the interaction between public and private health insurance is small, private health insurance-related policies are weak. And in countries with large interactions had public-private partnerships and the government's management policies were also strong. On the other hand, Korea has a large interaction, but the actual structure of cooperation between public and private insurance and management policies were weak. Because the non-benefit sector in Korea is relatively wide, it is difficult to manage compared to other countries where the concept of non-benefit is limited. In addition, the health authorities rarely perform the role of supervision over private health insurance, and they have so few linkages and cooperation for public-private insurance. Therefore, practical policy enforcement is necessary to achieve the easing of the burden of national medical expenses through linkage and cooperation of public-private health insurance with reference to relevant other countries' cases.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2021

In 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions to global health systems. The Korea has taken full-fledged actions against this novel infectious disease, swiftly implementing a testing-tracing-treatment strategy. New obligations have therefore been given to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) to devote the utmost effort towards tackling this global health crisis. Thanks to the universal national health insurance and state-of-the-art information communications technology (ICT) of the Korea, HIRA has conducted far-reaching countermeasures to detect and treat cases early, prevent the spread of COVID-19, respond quickly to surging demand for the healthcare services, and translate evidence into policy. Three main factors have enabled HIRA to undertake pandemic control preemptively and systematically: nationwide data aggregated from all healthcare providers and patients, pre-existing ICT network systems, and real-time data exchanges. HIRA has maximized the use of data and pre-existing network systems to conduct rapid and responsive measures in a centralized way, both of which have been the most critical tactics and strategies used by the Korean healthcare system. In the face of new obligations, our promise is to strive for a more responsive and resilient health system during this prolonged crisis.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.63 no.3
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• pp.285-307
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• 2011

This study aims to criticize the recent reform of childcare policy since 2008, which goes for marketization, individualization, and familialization, and to search for its alternative. First, this study analyzes the problems of the above three options based on the context of 'free choice', while examining how welfare regimes have dealt with the changes in childcare policy. Second, the study reviews several controversies in the process of policy formation for childcare service, including coverage of service recipient, policy direction, outcome, efficiency, and priority. Third, it proposes an alternative for accomplishing universal childcare service delivery system. Finally, the paper is to point out that the reform of childcare policy of MB government carries fundamental problems of reinforcing class stratification and gender stratification, and thus dose not attain the ultimate goal of childcare policy.