Study Results from Seoul National University College of Medicine Broaden Understanding of Public Health (Trends in life expectancy among medical aid beneficiaries and National Health Insurance beneficiaries in Korea between 2004 and 2017)

2019 AUG 30 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health & Medicine Business Daily -- Fresh data on Health and Medicine - Public Health are presented in a new report. According to news reporting originating from Seoul, South Korea, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Medical Aid beneficiaries in Korea are more likely to have poor health status and to receive insufficient healthcare services, but their life expectancy has not been compared with that of National Health Insurance beneficiaries. We used the National Health Information Database in Korea to obtain aggregate data on the numbers of population and deaths according to calendar year (2004 to 2017), sex, age group, and insurance eligibility (Medical Aid or National Health Insurance).”

Financial support for this research came from Korea Health Industry Development Institute.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the Seoul National University College of Medicine, “Between 2004 and 2017, a summed total of 697,503,634 subjects (combining numbers of subjects for 14 years) and 3,536,778 deaths, including 22,417,216 Medical Aid beneficiaries and 499,604 associated deaths, were used to construct annual abridged life tables. In 2017, the life expectancy of Medical Aid beneficiaries was 70.9 years, while that of National Health Insurance beneficiaries was 83.7 years. Between 2004 and 2017, life expectancy for Medical Aid beneficiaries increased by 8.7 years in men and 6.1 years in women, while life expectancy for National Health Insurance beneficiaries increased by 5.2 years in men and 4.5 years in women. The life expectancy difference between National Health Insurance beneficiaries and Medical Aid beneficiaries was especially great among men across all study periods. The life expectancy difference was 15.8 years for men and 8.9 years for women in 2017. The life expectancy of Medical Aid beneficiaries was shorter than that of National Health Insurance beneficiaries.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The government should implement policies to deliver more adequate health care to Medical Aid beneficiaries.”

For more information on this research see: Trends in life expectancy among medical aid beneficiaries and National Health Insurance beneficiaries in Korea between 2004 and 2017. Bmc Public Health, 2019;19(1):1137. Bmc Public Health can be contacted at: Biomed Central LTD, Middlesex House, 34-42 Cleveland St, London W1T 4LB, England. (BioMed Central - http://www.biomedcentral.com/; Bmc Public Health - http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpublichealth/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Y.H. Khang, Dept. of Health Policy and Management, College of Medicine, 103 Daehak-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 03080, South Korea. Additional authors for this research include H.Y. Kang and Y.H Khang.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7498-2. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal Bmc Public Health is: Biomed Central LTD, Middlesex House, 34-42 Cleveland St, London W1T 4LB, England.

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