- Changes in Distributive Equity of Health Insurance Contribution Burden.
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Hee Chung Kang, Eun Cheol Park, Kyu Sik Lee, Tae Kyu Park, Woo Jin Chung, Han Joong Kim
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J Prev Med Public Health. 2005;38(1):107-116.
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 Abstract
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- OBJECTIVES
We analyzed the changes from 1996 to 2002 in distributive equity of the contribution burden in the Korean National Health Insurance. METHODS: The study subjects were a total of 8, 923 employee households and a total of 7, 296 self-employed households over the period from 1996 to 2002. Those were the households meeting the two criteria as completing each annual survey and having no change in the job of head of the household during that period from the raw data of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey annually conducted by the Korean National Statistical Office. The unit of analysis was a household, and this was the standard for assessing the contribution that is now applied on a monthly basis. Deciles Distribution Ratio, Contribution Concentration Curve and Contribution Concentration Index were estimated as the index of inequality. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to compare the annual ability-to-pay elasticity of the contribution to the reference year of 1996 for three groups (all households, the employee households, and the self-employed households). RESULTS: For the index of inequality, the distributive equity of contribution was improved in all three groups. In particular, the employee group experienced a substantial improvement. Using multiple regression analysis, the ability-to-pay elasticity of the contribution in the employee group significantly increased ( beta=0.232, p< 0.0001) in the year 2002 as compared to the reference year of 1996. The elasticity in the self-employed group also significantly increased ( beta=0.186, p< 0.05), although its change was smaller than that in the employee group. CONCLUSIONS: The employee group had a greater improvement for the distributive equity of the contribution burden than the self-employed group. Within the observation period, there were two important integration reforms: one was the integration of 227 self-employed societies in 1998 and the other was the integration of 139 employee societies in 2000. We expected that the equity of the contribution burden would be improved for the self-employed group since the integration reform of 1998. However, it was not improved for the self-employed group until the year 2000. This result suggests that capturing exactly the beneficiaries' ability-to-pay such as income is the precedent for distributive equity of the contribution burden, although a more sophisticated imposition standard of contribution is needed.
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Summary
- Analysis of Socioeconomic Costs of Smoking in Korea.
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Han Joong Kim, Tae Kyu Park, Sun Ha Jee, Hye Young Kang, Chung Mo Nam
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Korean J Prev Med. 2001;34(3):183-190.
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Abstract
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- OBJECTIVE
To estimate the annual economic costs attributable to cigarette smoking in Korea. METHODS: The costs were classified as being direct medical and non-medical costs, indirect costs and others. We focused on those costs related that are incurred in the treatment of selected diseases (cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and cancers), which have been proven to be caused by smoking. In addition to the basic costs of treatment, the additional amount of costs occurred due to smoking was obtained by computing the population attributable risk (PAR%) caused by smoking. To compute the PAR%, relative risks of smoking to the number of outpatient visits, hospitalizations, and the death were estimated using the Cox proportional hazard model, respectively. Our major data source was the 'Korea Medical Insurance Corporation (KMIC) cohort study,' which was composed of a total of 115,682 male and 67,932 female beneficiaries who had complete records of their smoking histories in the year of 1992. RESULTS: The annual costs that could be attributable to smoking were estimated to be in the range of 2,847,500 million Won to 3,959,100 million Won. The maximum estimate of 3,959,100 million Won includes 233,100 million Won for medical costs, 5,100 million Won for transportation costs, 27,600 million Won for care giver's economic costs, 69,100 million Won in productivity loss, 3,435,000 million Won lost because of premature death, 172,100 million Won in costs resulting from passive smoke inhalation and 17,100 million Won for costs that resulted from fires that were caused by careless smoking. CONCLUSION: Our study confirms that the magnitude of the economic burden of smoking to Korean society is substantial. Therefore, this study provides strong evidence that there is a strong need for a national policy of tobacco control in Korea.
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KSPM
