Study on the factors affecting inequality in healthcare across different regions in korea

Abstract

Background/Objectives: This research uses data from a regional social health survey which is a representative sample of the entire Korean population to analyze the regional factors affecting unsatisfying healthcare. Methods/Statistical analysis: The significance level of such independent variables were set at 5% in all analyses using SPSS version 18.0 and SAS version 9.1. Analysis was conducted on the different patterns across regions, ANOVA, multi-variate analysis and multi-level analysis were carried out. Findings: Healthcare not meeting needs accounted for 12.1~18.3% in 16 major cities and provinces. Nationwide, the share was 14.6%, while Jeju ranked the highest at 18.3%, followed by Gwangju at 16.1%, and Gyeongnam and Incheon at 15.6%. Ulsan was the lowest at 12.1%.Healthcare needs not being met due to financial reasons accounted for 31.1~42.7% in various regions. Nationwide the figure stood at 35.2%, with the highest percentage shown by Jeonnam at 42.7%, followed by Incheon at 38.4% and Busan at 37.3%. Jeju was the lowest at 31.1%. Improvements/Applications: In this study, the share of one person households and the elderly population were highlighted as the factors to inequality in healthcare services being used. In particular, one person elderly households that count for more than 1 million nationwide will be all the more vulnerable to healthcare needs not being met.