Health coverage scheme and ACSC-related hospitalizations in South Korea

Purpose:

As the conditions potentially avoidable through appropriate primary health care, Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSCs) related hospitalization is an important indicator to better examine the extent to which relevant health care policy is successful to improve access in health care. Still, fairly limited research examined ACSCs-related hospitalization. Within a universal health coverage system, South Korea has Medical Aid policy for low-income people to ensure access to and improve disparity in health care. This study aims to investigate effect of Medical Aid by focusing on ACSCs-related hospitalization.

Method:

Data came from 3^rd wave (2010) of the Korea Health Panel (KHP). An analytic sample is focused on adults aged 20 years and older (N=13,387). Logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the associations between health insurance types and ACSCs-related hospitalization. The key independent factors are two types of health policy: health insurance and Medical Aid.

Results:

The proportion of ACSC-related hospitalization (3.8%) was far higher among the Medical Aid beneficiary (4.4 % of the sample) than health insurance beneficiary (1.2%). Compared to beneficiary of health insurance policy, Medical Aid beneficiaries were more likely to be hospitalized due to ACSCs, even after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and chronic conditions. 

Implications:

Our findings suggest that current Medical Aid policy needs to be improved to enhance access to primary care among the beneficiaries. Areas of loopholes and limitations in the policy as well as ways to address them are discussed.