Health Policy and Management (보건행정학회지)

Korean Academy of Health Policy and Management (한국보건행정학회)
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Socioeconomic Determinants of Korean Medicine Ambulatory Services: Comparing Panel Fixed Effect Model with Pooled Ordinary Least Square

한방외래의료 이용의 사회경제적 결정요인 연구: 의료패널자료를 이용한 고정효과모형과 합동 Ordinary Least Square 모형의 비교

  • Park, Min Jung (Department of Public Health Science, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University) ;
  • Kwon, Soon Man (Department of Public Health Science, Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University)
  • 박민정 (서울대학교 보건대학원 보건학과) ;
  • 권순만 (서울대학교 보건대학원 보건학과)
  • Received : 2013.11.16
  • Accepted : 2014.03.20
  • Published : 2014.03.31
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Abstract

Background: Korea is considered to have an integrative health system where both western medicine and Korean (traditional) medicine are officially recognized and provided. Although Korean medicine has been covered by National Health Insurance over 20 years, equity in the utilization of Korean medical care has rarely been examined. Methods: We examined medical care utilization and expenditure of outpatient Korean medicine using panel fixed effects model to remove selection bias. Then we compared it with pooled ordinary least square (OLS) model. This study used Korea Health Panel data, which provides accurate information on out-of-pocket health care payment, including non-covered medical services. Results: Principal findings indicate that the frequency of the utilization of Korean medicine is related with unobservable individual choices different from western medicine, so the panel fixed effect model is appropriate. But pooled OLS model is better fitted for the expenditure of Korean medicine, after controlling for western medical care expenditure. After adjusting for the selection bias, socioeconomic status (income, education) was significantly associated with the expenditure of Korean medicine, but not with the frequency of the utilization of Korean medicine. Conclusion: This study shows that expenditure of Korean medicine utilization is inequitable across socioeconomic groups, which implies that health insurance coverage of Korean medicine is not sufficient.

Keywords

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Cited by

  1. A Study on the Sociodemographic Characteristics of Adult Users of Korean Traditional Medicine vol.30, pp.1, 2016, https://doi.org/10.5932/JKPHN.2016.30.1.136