|
KMID : 1170320170230010053
|
|
Korean Journal of Health Economics and Policy
2017 Volume.23 No. 1 p.53 ~ p.70
|
|
|
Patterns and determinants of catastrophic health expenditure in the households with cancer patients
|
|
Yang Dong-Wook
Kim Hea-Lim
Kang Eun-Sil
Kim Da-Eun
Bae Eun-Young
Kim Jin-Hyun
|
|
|
Abstract
|
|
|
|
Households with cancer patients are often faced with financial hardship due to heavy burden of medical expenses and reduced household income. Catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) is the index which can indicates the households` economic burden of health spending. This study aimed to analyze the patterns and determinants of CHE in the households with cancer patients using Korea Health Panel data from 2008 to 2014. The results of descriptive analysis showed that the incidence of CHE in the households with cancer patients was much higher than that in the households without cancer patients (general households) and the difference was larger in the lower income group. Additionally, the incidence of CHE was highest in the first year of cancer treatment and decreased over time. As a result of the panel logit analysis, the household with cancer patients had 4.1 times higher risk of experiencing CHE than the general households. Among the households with cancer patients, the probability of CHE occurrence was 1.6 times higher when the head of household had cancer than when the rest member of household had cancer. This can be attributed to the reason that the onset of cancer would have a more negative impact on household income if the head of household was a cancer patient. In conclusion, our study suggests that the current policy of expanding benefit coverage alone is not enough and additional policy measures to preserve household income are needed to protect households with cancer patients from financial risk.
|
|
|
KEYWORD
|
|
|
cancer, cancer patients, catastrophic health expenditure, determinants
|
|
|
FullTexts / Linksout information
|
|
|
|
|
|
Listed journal information
|
|
|