Does Universal Health Insurance in Korea provide a Lesson for U.S. Health Care Financing?

This note provides a commentary on Lee, C. “Is Universal Health Insurance Superior in Terms of Healthcare Payment? Estimating the Financial Burden of Healthcare in Korea: 2009 to 2019.” INQUIRY, 2022, 59:1-8. Lee, using a unique data set, shows that the Korean single payer system is regressive, desp...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Phillip Phan PhD
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2023-04-01
Series:Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/00469580231168740
Description
Summary:This note provides a commentary on Lee, C. “Is Universal Health Insurance Superior in Terms of Healthcare Payment? Estimating the Financial Burden of Healthcare in Korea: 2009 to 2019.” INQUIRY, 2022, 59:1-8. Lee, using a unique data set, shows that the Korean single payer system is regressive, despite previous attempts to increase public expenditures. The policy recommendation, to improve access by making public payments even more progressive to household income, is examined. This note concludes that making health expenditures progressive to household income does not solve the root cause of the demand for health care, a key factor in health care access, nor can the policy implications generalize to the multi-payer U.S. system.
ISSN:0046-9580
1945-7243