Trends in Scale and Structure of Korea's Health Expenditure over Last Three Decades (1980-2009): Financing, Functions and Providers.
10.3346/jkms.2012.27.S.S13
- Author:
Hyoung Sun JEONG
1
;
Jeong Woo SHIN
Author Information
1. Department of Health Administration, College of Health Science, Yonsei University, Wonju, Korea. jeonghs@yonsei.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Total Health Expenditure;
Current Health Expenditure;
Public Health Expenditure;
System of Health Accounts (SHA);
National Health Accounts (NHA)
- MeSH:
Delivery of Health Care/economics/*trends;
Health Expenditures/statistics & numerical data/*trends;
Humans;
Republic of Korea
- From:Journal of Korean Medical Science
2012;27(Suppl):S13-S20
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
This paper introduces statistics related to the size and composition of Korea's total health expenditure. The figures produced were tailored to the OECD's system of health accounts. Korea's total health expenditure in 2009 was estimated at 73.7 trillion won (US$ 57.7 billion). The annual per capita health expenditure was equivalent to US$ PPP 1,879. Korea's total health expenditure as a share of gross domestic product was 6.9% in 2009, far below the OECD average of 9.5%. Korea's public financing share of total health expenditure increased rapidly from less than 50% before 2000 to 58.2% in 2009. However, despite this growth, Korea's share remained the fourth lowest among OECD countries that had an average public share of 71.5%. Inpatient, outpatient, and pharmaceutical care accounted for 32.1%, 33.0%, and 23.7% of current health expenditure in 2009, respectively. A total of 41.1% of current health expenditure went to hospitals, 28.1% to providers of ambulatory healthcare (15.9% on doctor's clinics), and 17.9% to pharmacies. More investment in the translation of national health account data into policy-relevant information is suggested for future progress.
