Young People Who Don't Go to Hospitals Even When Sick... "Too Busy and It's a Waste of Money"

More than 4 out of 10 young people in Korea reported that they were unable to visit a hospital when sick due to being busy and feeling that medical expenses were a waste of money.

On the 13th, the Korea Youth Policy Institute released these findings in its report titled "A Study on the Reality of Youth Poverty and the Establishment of a Self-Reliance Safety Net System." A survey was conducted targeting 4,000 young people aged 19 to 34 (1,984 men and 2,016 women), and 41.6% of respondents answered that they had been sick in the past year but did not visit a hospital. The most common reason for not visiting a hospital was "no time to go to the hospital (busy)" at 47.1%. This was followed by "reluctance to spend money on hospital fees (medical expense burden)" at 33.7%, and "purchasing over-the-counter drugs at pharmacies" at 9.3%.

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Among young people, the average proportion of medical expenses in their monthly living costs over the past year was most commonly "5% or less" at 54.0%. This was followed by "6?10%" at 18.2%, and "none at all" at 13.2%. The percentage of respondents who felt that medical expenses were a burden within their overall living costs was 40.0%, while 30.9% said they did not feel burdened.

In particular, more than half of young people reported that they had not undergone health checkups at hospitals, health screening centers, or public health centers in the past year. Among major health support policies, 50.6% prioritized "expansion of free health checkups for those aged 20 to 30." The most urgent government youth health policy was identified as "expansion of medical expense support for youth" (32.8%). This was followed by "expansion of psychological counseling support for youth" at 28.9%, and "expansion of youth health checkups" at 24.4%.

Additionally, it was found to be difficult for young people to receive help from friends or family even when sick. Among respondents, 15.2% said they had "no one around to ask for help when sick." Of the youth who said they did have someone, 52.4% answered that they had not received help from those around them in the past year. The percentage who said they had "no one to emotionally rely on" was 13.2%, and 16.4% said they had "not met anyone privately in the past month." Furthermore, 57.8% of young people answered that they were in a "depressed state," and 37.1% said they had "thought about extreme choices."

The research team stated, "It is necessary to strengthen the promotion of youth health checkups and prepare medical expense support measures for vulnerable youth groups," adding, "Customized health policies should be established according to age group, gender, employment status, and region."

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