<sec>
<title>Objectives</title>
<p>In this study the relationship between neighborhood deprivation and the unmet health care needs of elderly individuals (≥ 65 years) was examined. Some previous studies suggested that neighborhood characteristics affect access to health care, yet research on the unmet needs of older individuals is limited.</p></sec>
<sec>
<title>Methods</title>
<p>Multilevel logistic regression analysis was used to assess the relationship of neighborhood-level factors with unmet health care needs due to costs, adjusting for individual-level factors, in individuals ≥ 65 years in the 2017 Korean Community Health Survey (<italic>n</italic> = 63,388).</p></sec>
<sec>
<title>Results</title>
<p>There were 2.6% of elderly individuals who experienced unmet health care needs due to costs. Following adjustment for individual and neighborhood characteristics, the neighborhood deprivation in urban areas was found to have an inverse association with unmet needs (odds ratio = 0.50; 95% confidence interval = 0.24–1.06) for the most deprived quartile versus the least deprived quartile). However, in rural areas neighborhood deprivation was not a significant variable. Among the individual-level variables, household income was one of the strongest correlates with unmet needs in both urban and rural areas.</p></sec>
<sec>
<title>Conclusion</title>
<p>The present findings suggest that targeted policy interventions reflecting both neighborhood and individual characteristics, should be implemented to reduce the unmet health care needs of elderly individuals.</p></sec>
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
Unmet Healthcare Needs and Associated Factors Among Older Adults with Osteoporosis: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the 2025 Korea Community Health Survey Eunjung Kim, Boyoung Kim, Hae Ran Kim Healthcare.2026; 14(12): 1670. CrossRef
Effect of Regional Deprivation and Dental Care Resources on the Unmet Dental Care Needs due to Cost of Older Individuals in South Korea Ji‐Yeon Lim, Ju‐Mi Lee, Hae‐Sung Nam Gerodontology.2025; 42(4): 536. CrossRef
Analysis of factors associated with unmet dental care needs using geographically weighted regression Ji-Yeon Lim, Sang-Hee Lee Journal of Korean Academy of Oral Health.2025; 49(2): 72. CrossRef
Socioeconomic inequality in health-related quality of life among Korean adults with chronic disease: an analysis of the Korean Community Health Survey Thi Huyen Trang Nguyen, Thi Tra Bui, Jinhee Lee, Kui Son Choi, Hyunsoon Cho, Jin-Kyoung Oh Epidemiology and Health.2024; 46: e2024018. CrossRef
What are the factors affecting older adults’ experience of unmet healthcare needs amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Korea? Sujin Kim, Jongnam Hwang BMC Geriatrics.2023;[Epub] CrossRef
Linking neighbourhood safety and children's internalizing and externalizing problems: Mediating role of maternal depression Youngmin Cho Child & Family Social Work.2023; 28(4): 1089. CrossRef
Urban-Rural Differences in the Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms in Korean Adults Ji-An Jeong, Sun A Kim, Jung Ho Yang, Min-Ho Shin Chonnam Medical Journal.2023; 59(2): 128. CrossRef
PhaVIP: Phage VIrion Protein classification based on chaos game representation and Vision Transformer Jiayu Shang, Cheng Peng, Xubo Tang, Yanni Sun Bioinformatics.2023; 39(Supplement): i30. CrossRef
Dashboard to analyze associations of socio-economic and environmental inequality of regions with health indicators. Guidelines A. A. Zelenina, S. A. Shalnova, S. A. Maksimov Cardiovascular Therapy and Prevention.2023; 22(7): 3652. CrossRef
The Older Persons' Index of Multiple Deprivation: Measuring the deprivation circumstances of older populations in Aotearoa New Zealand Daniel J. Exeter, Michael Browne, Tommi Robinson-Chen, Jessie Colbert, Ngaire Kerse, Arier Lee Health & Place.2022; 76: 102850. CrossRef
The Contribution of Material, Behavioral, Psychological, and Social-Relational Factors to Income-Related Disparities in Cardiovascular Risk Among Older Adults Chiyoung Lee, Qing Yang, Eun-Ok Im, Eleanor Schildwachter McConnell, Sin-Ho Jung, Hyeoneui Kim Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing.2021; 36(4): E38. CrossRef
Association between community deprivation and practising health behaviours among South Korean adults: a survey-based cross-sectional study Bich Na Jang, Hin Moi Youn, Doo Woong Lee, Jae Hong Joo, Eun-Cheol Park BMJ Open.2021; 11(6): e047244. CrossRef
<sec><title>Objectives</title><p>Many economically advanced countries have attempted to minimize public expenditures and pursue privatization based on the principles of neo-liberalism. However, Korea has moved contrary to this global trend. This study examines why and how the Korean health care system was formed, developed, and transformed into an integrated, single-insurer, National Health Insurance (NHI) system.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>We describe the transition in the Korean health care system using an analytical framework that incorporates such critical variables as government economic development strategies and the relationships among social forces, state autonomy, and state power. This study focuses on how the relationships among social forces can change as a nation’s economic development or governing strategy changes in response to changes in international circumstances such as globalization.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The corporatist Social Health Insurance (SHI) system (multiple insurers) introduced in 1977 was transformed into the single-insurer NHI in July 2000. These changes were influenced externally by globalization and internally by political democratization, keeping Korea’s private-dominant health care provision system unchanged over several decades.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Major changes such as integration reform occurred, when high levels of state autonomy were ensured. The state’s power (its policy capability), based on health care infrastructures, acts to limit the direction of any change in the health care system because it is very difficult to build the infrastructure for a health care system in a short timeframe.</p></sec>
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
Estimation of the benefit from pre‐emptive genotyping based on the nationwide cohort data in South Korea Ki Young Huh, Sejung Hwang, Joo Young Na, Kyung‐Sang Yu, In‐Jin Jang, Jae‐Yong Chung, Seonghae Yoon Clinical and Translational Science.2024;[Epub] CrossRef
ASSESSMENT OF TÜRKİYE'S PROVINCES WITH HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE INDICATORS USING DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS AND HEALTH INDEX Ahmet Bahadır Şimşek Hacettepe Sağlık İdaresi Dergisi.2024; 27(3): 363. CrossRef
Lessons from health insurance responses in counteracting COVID-19: a qualitative comparative analysis of South Korea and three influential countries Hey Jin Ko, Eunji Yun, Boryung Ahn, Hyejin Lee, Won Mo Jang, Jin Yong Lee Archives of Public Health.2023;[Epub] CrossRef
Role of Primary Care and Challenges for Public–Private Cooperation during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: An Expert Delphi Study in South Korea Woo-young Shin, Changsoo Kim, Sei Young Lee, Won Lee, Jung-ha Kim Yonsei Medical Journal.2021; 62(7): 660. CrossRef
The sociopolitical context of the COVID-19 response in South Korea Hani Kim BMJ Global Health.2020; 5(5): e002714. CrossRef
Post-COVID healthcare reform in India: What to expect? Soham D. Bhaduri Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care.2020; 9(11): 5427. CrossRef
The Story of Korean Health Insurance System Hae-Wol Cho, Chaeshin Chu Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives.2017; 8(4): 235. CrossRef
First
Prev
