IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i8p3859-d531413.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dental Expenditure by Household Income in Korea over the Period 2008–2017: A Review of the National Dental Insurance Reform

Author

Listed:
  • Hosung Shin

    (Department of Social and Humanity in Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Wonkwang University, Iksan-si 54538, Korea)

  • Han-A Cho

    (Department of Dental Hygiene, Shinhan University, Uijeongbu-si 11644, Korea)

  • Bo-Ra Kim

    (Department of Dental Hygiene, Namseoul University, Cheonan-si 31020, Korea)

Abstract

Since 2009, the National Health Insurance in Korea (NHI) has been implementing a series of policies to expand the scope of dental benefits. This study reviewed the changes in co-payments and dental use patterns before (2008 to 2012) and after (2013 to 2017) the NHI’s dental health insurance reform. The study used Korea Health Panel data of 7681 households (16,493 household members) from a 10-year period (2008–2017). Dental expenditures and equivalent income using square root of household size were analyzed. Dental services were categorized into 13 types and a concentration index and 95% confidence interval using the delta method was calculated to identify income-related inequalities by a dental service. Dental expenditures and the number of dental services used increased significantly, while the proportion of out-of-pocket spending by the elderly decreased. The expenditure ratio for implant services to total dental expenditures increased substantially in all age groups, but the ratio of expenditures for dentures and fixed bridges decreased relatively. The concentration index of implant services was basically in favor of the rich, but there was no longer a significant bias favoring the better-off after the reforms. The dental health insurance reform in Korea appears to contribute not only to lowering the ratio of out-of-pocket to total dental expenses per episode in the elderly but also to improving the inequality of dental expenses.

Suggested Citation

  • Hosung Shin & Han-A Cho & Bo-Ra Kim, 2021. "Dental Expenditure by Household Income in Korea over the Period 2008–2017: A Review of the National Dental Insurance Reform," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-11, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:8:p:3859-:d:531413
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/3859/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/3859/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jin-Sun Choi & Se-Hwan Jung, 2020. "The Impact of Expanded National Health Insurance Coverage of Dentures and Dental Implants on Dental Care Utilization among Older Adults in South Korea: A Study Based on the Korean Health Panel Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-11, September.
    2. Owen O'Donnell & Eddy van Doorslaer & Adam Wagstaff & Magnus Lindelow, 2008. "Analyzing Health Equity Using Household Survey Data : A Guide to Techniques and Their Implementation," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6896.
    3. Valérie Paris & Emily Hewlett & Ane Auraaen & Jan Alexa & Lisa Simon, 2016. "Health care coverage in OECD countries in 2012," OECD Health Working Papers 88, OECD Publishing.
    4. Kakwani, Nanok C, 1977. "Measurement of Tax Progressivity: An International Comparison," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 87(345), pages 71-80, March.
    5. John Creedy & Cath Sleeman, 2005. "Adult equivalence scales, inequality and poverty," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 51-81.
    6. Kakwani, Nanak & Wagstaff, Adam & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 1997. "Socioeconomic inequalities in health: Measurement, computation, and statistical inference," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 87-103, March.
    7. Xander Koolman & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2004. "On the interpretation of a concentration index of inequality," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(7), pages 649-656, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Tavares, Lara Patrício & Zantomio, Francesca, 2017. "Inequity in healthcare use among older people after 2008: The case of southern European countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(10), pages 1063-1071.
    2. John Ataguba, 2012. "Alcohol policy and taxation in South Africa," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 65-76, January.
    3. Mototsugu Fukushige & Noriko Ishikawa & Satoko Maekawa, 2012. "A modified Kakwani measure for health inequality," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 1-7, December.
    4. Sato, Azusa, 2012. "Do Inequalities in Health Care Utilization in Developing Countries Change When We Take into Account Traditional Medicines?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(11), pages 2275-2289.
    5. N. N., 2015. "WIFO-Monatsberichte, Heft 8/2015," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 88(8), August.
    6. Eibhlin Hudson & David Madden & Irene Mosca, 2015. "A Formal Investigation of Inequalities in Health Behaviours After Age 50 on the Island of Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 46(2), pages 233-265.
    7. Kelly Maguire & Glenn Sheriff, 2011. "Comparing Distributions of Environmental Outcomes for Regulatory Environmental Justice Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-20, May.
    8. Athina Raftopoulou & Joan Gil Trasfi, 2024. "Income-related inequality in obesity and its determinants in Spain: What happens beyond the obesity threshold?," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 135-153, March.
    9. Thomas Leoni, 2015. "Soziale Unterschiede in Gesundheit und Inanspruchnahme der Gesundheitsversorgung," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 88(8), pages 649-662, August.
    10. Anamika Pandey & G Anil Kumar & Rakhi Dandona & Lalit Dandona, 2018. "Variations in catastrophic health expenditure across the states of India: 2004 to 2014," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-15, October.
    11. Hajizadeh, Mohammad & Pandey, Sujita & Pulok, Mohammad Habibullah, 2023. "Decomposition of socioeconomic inequalities in catastrophic out-of-pocket expenditure for healthcare in Canada," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 51-59.
    12. Qing Li & Alain A. Cohen & Linda P. Fried, 2017. "A novel health metric based on biomarkers," Cahiers de recherche 17-08, Departement d'économique de l'École de gestion à l'Université de Sherbrooke.
    13. Hua, Xinyang & Erreygers, Guido & Chalmers, John & Laba, Tracey-Lea & Clarke, Philip, 2017. "Using administrative data to look at changes in the level and distribution of out-of-pocket medical expenditure: An example using Medicare data from Australia," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(4), pages 426-433.
    14. Hajizadeh, Mohammad & Nandi, Arijit & Heymann, Jody, 2014. "Social inequality in infant mortality: What explains variation across low and middle income countries?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 36-46.
    15. Nesson, Erik T. & Robinson, Joshua J., 2019. "On the measurement of health and its effect on the measurement of health inequality," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 207-221.
    16. Hajizadeh, Mohammad & Hu, Min & Bombay, Amy & Asada, Yukiko, 2018. "Socioeconomic inequalities in health among Indigenous peoples living off-reserve in Canada: Trends and determinants," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(8), pages 854-865.
    17. Kinyondo, Abel Alfred & Ntegwa, Magashi Joseph & Masawe, Cresencia Apolinary, 2022. "Socioeconomic Inequality in Maternal Healthcare Services: The Case of Tanzania," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 10(1), January.
    18. David (David Patrick) Madden, 2012. "The relationship between low birthweight and socioeconomic status in Ireland," Working Papers 201214, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    19. Hai Zhong, 2010. "The impact of missing data in the estimation of concentration index: a potential source of bias," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 11(3), pages 255-266, June.
    20. Slawa Rokicki & Mark E. McGovern, 2020. "Heterogeneity in Early Life Investments: A Longitudinal Analysis of Children's Time Use," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(3), pages 647-676, September.

    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:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:8:p:3859-:d:531413. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.