IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/hepoli/v113y2013i1p69-76.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effect of private health insurance on health care utilization in a universal public insurance system: A case of South Korea

Author

Listed:
  • Jeon, Boyoung
  • Kwon, Soonman

Abstract

This study examined the effect of private health insurance (PHI) on health care utilization in South Korea using a nationally representative sample of 9512 adults participating in Korea Health Panel Survey (KHPS). We compared the health care utilization and subsequent expenditure according to whether or not and how many PHIs are purchased, controlling for the endogeneity of insurance purchase by propensity score matching method and Heckman-type treatment effect model. The results of this study show that the probability of any health care utilization, both outpatient care and inpatient care, is higher for the people who have PHI. For those who utilize health care, PHI has a positive impact on outpatient expenditure, but not on the number of outpatient visits. The effect of PHI on the number of inpatient days and expenditure is not statistically significant among the users of inpatient care. These results imply a need for policy options to mitigate the moral hazard effect of PHI in the outpatient care sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeon, Boyoung & Kwon, Soonman, 2013. "Effect of private health insurance on health care utilization in a universal public insurance system: A case of South Korea," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 69-76.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:113:y:2013:i:1:p:69-76
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2013.05.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851013001322
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.healthpol.2013.05.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patrick Hullegie & Tobias J. Klein, 2010. "The effect of private health insurance on medical care utilization and self‐assessed health in Germany," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(9), pages 1048-1062, September.
    2. Manning, Willard G, et al, 1987. "Health Insurance and the Demand for Medical Care: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(3), pages 251-277, June.
    3. Bolhaar, Jonneke & Lindeboom, Maarten & van der Klaauw, Bas, 2012. "A dynamic analysis of the demand for health insurance and health care," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 669-690.
    4. Andreas Million & Regina T. Riphahn & Achim Wambach, 2003. "Incentive effects in the demand for health care: a bivariate panel count data estimation," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(4), pages 387-405.
    5. Adam Wagstaff, 2010. "Estimating health insurance impacts under unobserved heterogeneity: the case of Vietnam's health care fund for the poor," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(2), pages 189-208, February.
    6. David Card & Carlos Dobkin & Nicole Maestas, 2008. "The Impact of Nearly Universal Insurance Coverage on Health Care Utilization: Evidence from Medicare," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 2242-2258, December.
    7. Saliba, Berengere & Ventelou, Bruno, 2007. "Complementary health insurance in France Who pays? Why? Who will suffer from public disengagement?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(2-3), pages 166-182, May.
    8. Wagstaff, Adam & Lindelow, Magnus, 2008. "Can insurance increase financial risk?: The curious case of health insurance in China," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 990-1005, July.
    9. Partha Deb & Chenghui Li & Pravin K. Trivedi & David M. Zimmer, 2006. "The effect of managed care on use of health care services: results from two contemporaneous household surveys," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(7), pages 743-760, July.
    10. Cutler, David M. & Zeckhauser, Richard J., 2000. "The anatomy of health insurance," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 11, pages 563-643, Elsevier.
    11. Shin, Jaeun, 2012. "Private health insurance in South Korea: An international comparison," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 76-85.
    12. Kiil, Astrid, 2012. "What characterises the privately insured in universal health care systems? A review of the empirical evidence," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 60-75.
    13. Wong, Irene O.L. & Lindner, Michael J. & Cowling, Benjamin J. & Lau, Eric H.Y. & Lo, Su-Vui & Leung, Gabriel M., 2010. "Measuring moral hazard and adverse selection by propensity scoring in the mixed health care economy of Hong Kong," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 24-35, April.
    14. Omar Paccagnella & Vincenzo Rebba & Guglielmo Weber, 2013. "VOLUNTARY PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE AMONG THE OVER 50s IN EUROPE," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(3), pages 289-315, March.
    15. Jowett, M. & Contoyannis, P. & Vinh, N. D., 2003. "The impact of public voluntary health insurance on private health expenditures in Vietnam," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 333-342, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. So-Hyun Moon & Hyun-Ju Seo & Dong Young Lee & Seong Min Kim & Jeong Min Park, 2019. "Associations Among Health Insurance Type, Cardiovascular Risk Factors, and the Risk of Dementia: A Prospective Cohort Study in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-9, July.
    2. Kwame Adjei-Mantey & Charles Yuji Horioka, 2023. "Determinants of health insurance enrollment and health expenditure in Ghana: an empirical analysis," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1269-1288, December.
    3. Daehwan Kim & Dong-hwa Lee, 2023. "Does private health insurance prevent the onset of critical illness and disability in a universal public insurance system?," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 48(1), pages 177-193, January.
    4. Hye Yin Park & Yun-Chul Hong & Ichiro Kawachi & Juhwan Oh, 2018. "Gaps in universal health coverage in South Korea: Association with depression onset in a community cohort," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(6), pages 1-11, June.
    5. World Bank, 2015. "Bulgaria Health Financing," World Bank Publications - Reports 22964, The World Bank Group.
    6. Chang Hoon You & Ji Heon Choi & Sungwook Kang & Eun-Hwan Oh & Young Dae Kwon, 2018. "Association between supplementary private health insurance and visits to physician offices versus hospital outpatient departments among adults with diabetes in the universal public insurance system," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(4), pages 1-11, April.
    7. Jang, Sung-In & Yi, Sang-Wook & Sull, Jae-Woong & Park, Eun-Cheol & Kim, Jae-Hyun & Ohrr, Heechoul, 2015. "Association between all-cause mortality and insurance status transition among the elderly population in a rural area in Korea: Kangwha Cohort Study," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(5), pages 680-687.
    8. Han, Kyu-Tae & Kim, Jeeyun & Nam, Chung Mo & Moon, Ki Tae & Lee, Sang Gyu & Kim, Seung Ju & Ju, Yeong Jun & Kwon, Jeoung A & Kim, Sun Jung & Kim, Woorim & Park, Eun-Cheol, 2016. "Association between reduction in copayment and gastric cancer patient concentration to the capital area in South Korea: NHI cohort 2003–2013," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(6), pages 580-589.
    9. Ko, Hansoo, 2020. "Moral hazard effects of supplemental private health insurance in Korea," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    10. Seung Ju Kim & Kyu-Tae Han & Suk-Yong Jang & Ki-Bong Yoo & Sun Jung Kim, 2018. "The Association between Migraine and Types of Sleep Disorder," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-12, November.
    11. Jinha An & Sukil Kim, 2020. "Medical cost trends under national health insurance benefit extension in Republic of Korea," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(6), pages 1351-1370, November.
    12. Lan Nguyen & Andrew C. Worthington, 2023. "Moral hazard in Australian private health insurance: the case of dental care services and extras cover," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 48(1), pages 157-176, January.
    13. Lee, Hye Myung & Ko, Hansoo, 2022. "The impact of benefits coverage expansion of social health insurance: Evidence from Korea," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(9), pages 925-932.
    14. Jae-Hyun Kim & Kwang-Soo Lee & Ki-Bong Yoo & Eun-Cheol Park, 2015. "The Differences in Health Care Utilization between Medical Aid and Health Insurance: A Longitudinal Study Using Propensity Score Matching," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-13, March.
    15. Jiang, Yawen & Ni, Weiyi, 2020. "Impact of supplementary private health insurance on hospitalization and physical examination in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Astrid Kiil & Jacob Nielsen Arendt, 2017. "The effect of complementary private health insurance on the use of health care services," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 1-27, March.
    2. Bernal, Noelia & Carpio, Miguel A. & Klein, Tobias J., 2017. "The effects of access to health insurance: Evidence from a regression discontinuity design in Peru," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 122-136.
    3. Hudson, Eibhlin & Nolan, Anne, 2015. "Public healthcare eligibility and the utilisation of GP services by older people in Ireland," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 24-43.
    4. De La Mata, Dolores & Olivella, Pau & Valdés, Maria Nieves, 2022. "Asymmetric Information with multiple risks: the case of the Chilean Private Health Insurance Market," UC3M Working papers. Economics 35441, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    5. Patrick Hullegie & Tobias J. Klein, 2010. "The effect of private health insurance on medical care utilization and self‐assessed health in Germany," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(9), pages 1048-1062, September.
    6. Bernal Lobato, N., 2014. "Essays in applied microeconomics," Other publications TiSEM 9b638b3d-2f83-452a-b2c8-c, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Hullegie, P.G.J., 2012. "Essays on health and labor economics," Other publications TiSEM dcc68fc9-7af1-4ba9-8f90-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. Nikolaos Grigorakis & Christos Floros & Haritini Tsangari & Evangelos Tsoukatos, 2017. "Combined social and private health insurance versus catastrophic out of pocket payments for private hospital care in Greece," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 261-287, September.
    9. Charles Courtemanche & James Marton & Benjamin Ukert & Aaron Yelowitz & Daniela Zapata, 2018. "Early Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Health Care Access, Risky Health Behaviors, and Self‐Assessed Health," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(3), pages 660-691, January.
    10. Sebastian Panthöfer, 2016. "Risk Selection under Public Health Insurance with Opt‐Out," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(9), pages 1163-1181, September.
    11. Timothy J. Halliday & Randall Q. Akee, 2020. "The impact of Medicaid on medical utilization in a vulnerable population: Evidence from COFA migrants," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(10), pages 1231-1250, October.
    12. Lin, Lin & Zai, Xianhua, 2022. "The Power of Public Insurance With Limited Benefits: Evidence from China's New Cooperative Medical Scheme," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1180, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    13. Raj Chetty & Amy Finkelstein, 2012. "Social Insurance: Connecting Theory to Data," NBER Working Papers 18433, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Tamie Matsuura & Masaru Sasaki, 2012. "Can the health insurance reforms stop an increase in medical expenditures for middle- and old-aged persons in Japan?," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 163-187, June.
    15. Adam Wagstaff, 2010. "Estimating health insurance impacts under unobserved heterogeneity: the case of Vietnam's health care fund for the poor," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(2), pages 189-208, February.
    16. Michael R.M. Abrigo & Timothy J. Halliday & Teresa Molina, 2022. "Expanding health insurance for the elderly of the Philippines," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(3), pages 500-520, April.
    17. Levine, David & Polimeni, Rachel & Ramage, Ian, 2016. "Insuring health or insuring wealth? An experimental evaluation of health insurance in rural Cambodia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 1-15.
    18. Feng, Jin & Song, Hong & Wang, Zhen, 2020. "The elderly's response to a patient cost-sharing policy in health insurance: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 189-207.
    19. Emily Gustafsson-Wright & Gosia Popławska & Zlata Tanović & Jacques Gaag, 2018. "The impact of subsidized private health insurance and health facility upgrades on healthcare utilization and spending in rural Nigeria," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 221-276, September.
    20. Ha Trong Nguyen & Luke B Connelly, 2017. "Cost-sharing in health insurance and its impact in a developing country: evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Working Paper series WP1702, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:113:y:2013:i:1:p:69-76. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu or the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/healthpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.