The effect of the 2009 cancer coverage expansion policy in Korea

Abstract

This study focuses on the effect of coverage expansion policy on medical expenditures at each initial medical expenditure level. More specifically, how each structural change, such as the enforcement of coverage expansion policy and other observable factors, influences the spending on medical care using the relatively recently developed decomposition technique was investigated in the study. The results showed that those at the lowest or highest medical cost level benefited most from the policy change. The observable variables seemed to affect the overall differences in the cancer inpatient cost for those at the middle medical cost level, and the structural changes seemed to account for the overall change in the cancer inpatient cost for those at the lowest or the highest medical cost level. The findings of this study offer an explanation for why the coverage expansion policy could not affect the equity in health utilization and financial burden reported in previous literature.