People Who Couldn't Visit the Hospital on Time... The Reason Is "Not Money but Lack of Time"

Reasons for Giving Up Treatment: "No Time to Go and Financial Burden"
Higher Treatment Abandonment Among Elderly Due to Economic Medical Costs
'Catastrophic Medical Expenses' More Common Among Low-Income Groups

Although medical accessibility has increased due to advancements in technology and transportation, it was found that about 15% of the population did not receive timely hospital treatment. In particular, among those who missed treatment opportunities, a significant number cited 'time and money' as reasons for giving up treatment.

[Image source=Pixabay]

On the 2nd, the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs analyzed data from the Korea Health Panel and others, surveyed since 2011 targeting adult household members aged 18 and over. According to the analysis, the unmet medical needs rate based on domestic hospitals and clinics (10,064 respondents) was 15.0% as of 2020 (15.0% for men, 14.9% for women).

The unmet medical needs rate refers to the proportion of people who needed hospital or clinic treatment or examination (excluding dental care) in the past year but did not receive it even once.

The most common reason for not visiting the hospital was 'difficulty finding time,' accounting for 50.7% (multiple responses allowed).

Next were 'burden of medical expenses' (21.2%) and 'inconvenient transportation or long distance' (9.3%).

The unmet medical needs rate due to economic reasons was relatively higher among the elderly, such as those aged 80 and above (5.6%) and those in their 70s (4.1%). Other age groups generally fell below 3%.

Reasons for Unmet Medical Needs.
Photo by Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs

According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, the proportion of households experiencing catastrophic medical expenses was 3.93% as of 2020.

The level of catastrophic medical expenses is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as cases where medical expenses exceed 40% of a household's capacity to pay.

Low-income groups had a higher incidence of medical expenses reaching 'catastrophic' levels compared to other groups. The rate of catastrophic medical expenses in the lowest income quintile was 10.8%, the highest among all quintiles.

In other words, among low-income households, one out of ten households spends more than 40% of their total disposable income on medical expenses.

Gordon Sol, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, explained, "It is necessary to identify the shortcomings in accessibility, services, and costs for each target group to realize universal health coverage and to develop policy alternatives to improve these areas."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.