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Poverty in the Midst of Plenty: Unmet Needs and Distribution of Health Care Resources in South Korea

Author

Listed:
  • Jongho Heo
  • Juwhan Oh
  • Jukyung Kim
  • Manwoo Lee
  • Jin-seok Lee
  • Soonman Kwon
  • S V Subramanian
  • Ichiro Kawachi

Abstract

Background: The unmet needs for health care have been used as an alternative measurement to monitor equity in health services. We sought to examine contextual influences on unmet needs for health care whereas precedent studies have been focused on individual characteristics on them. Methods and Findings: The current study conducted multilevel logistic regression analysis to assess the effects of individual- and contextual-level predictors in meeting individual health care needs in South Korea. We sampled 7,200 individuals over the age of 19 in the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2009. Included in the regression model were individual predictors such as demographic variables, socio-economic status, and self-rated health; the density of beds and physicians in public and private sectors within different regions were used as contextual-level predictors. This study showed the inverse association between unmet needs and regional resources in private sectors after controlling for the effects of individual-level predictors. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that increasing regional resources in private sectors might produce inefficiency in the health care system and inequity in access to health services, particularly where the competition in private health care sectors was highly stimulated under the fee-for-service reimbursement scheme. Policies for the reallocation of health care resources and for reduction of individual health care costs are needed in Korea.

Suggested Citation

  • Jongho Heo & Juwhan Oh & Jukyung Kim & Manwoo Lee & Jin-seok Lee & Soonman Kwon & S V Subramanian & Ichiro Kawachi, 2012. "Poverty in the Midst of Plenty: Unmet Needs and Distribution of Health Care Resources in South Korea," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(11), pages 1-7, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0051004
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0051004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Balsa, Ana I. & McGuire, Thomas G., 2001. "Statistical discrimination in health care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 881-907, November.
    2. Allin, Sara & Grignon, Michel & Le Grand, Julian, 2010. "Subjective unmet need and utilization of health care services in Canada: What are the equity implications?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 465-472, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jongnam Hwang, 2016. "Decomposing socioeconomic inequalities in the use of preventive eye screening services among individuals with diabetes in Korea," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 61(5), pages 613-620, June.
    2. Asri Maharani & Gindo Tampubolon, 2014. "Unmet Needs for Cardiovascular Care in Indonesia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(8), pages 1-10, August.
    3. Ko, Hansoo, 2016. "Unmet healthcare needs and health status: Panel evidence from Korea," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(6), pages 646-653.

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