민간의료보험이 노년층 의료서비스 이용에 미치는 영향: 만성질환 보유 여부에 따른 차이

초록

This paper analyzes the effect of private medical insurance subscription on the number of outpatient services and the days of hospitalization in relation to the use of medical services among the elderly over 65 years of age, who consume a high proportion of medical services. In particular, a comparative analysis was conducted on how these effects differ depending on whether or not they have chronic diseases that are prevalent in the elderly. To this end, the panel Poisson regression model was estimated using data from 2007 to 2017 of the Korean welfare panel study. Estimation results show that private medical insurance subscription significantly increased the use of medical services such as the number of outpatient services and the days of hospitalization by the elderly. In particular, compared to the elderly with chronic diseases, the influence of such private medical insurance was much larger in healthy elderly people without chronic disease. This supports the fact that private medical insurance has a positive role in satisfying the demand for unsatisfied medical services of the elderly, but there is a moral hazard that further encourages the use of medical services by healthy elderly people who have relatively low demand for medical services. This leads to inefficient allocation of limited medical service resources and an unnecessary burden on public insurance finances in relation to the medical and health problems of the elderly population, which is growing in importance amid the rapid aging population. Careful policy consideration is required for the private medical insurance market for the elderly.

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