Three essays on the economics of health insurance change, COVID and trust, and suicide with application to South Korea
type: CreativeWork
description: This thesis consists of three unique essays on diverse topics with a shared emphasis on health behaviors and outcomes. The first essay highlights the healthcare demand response to price schedule changes in Korea’s healthcare market-which runs universal health coverage. The second and third essays each examines the role of both social capital and human capital in mitigating different health related outcomes. The first chapter considers the response of healthcare utilization of those who experience changes in price schedule when they are newly classified as National Health Insurance (NHI) enrollees or Medical Aid type 2 (MA type 2) beneficiaries under Korea’s universal health coverage. By addressing the question within the context of Korea’s healthcare market, where less than 3% of general population list price as a factor limiting access to healthcare services, I avoid over-estimation that may arise if demand response partly reflects unmet needs of participants or patients. To do so, I adapt a differences-in-differences approach to estimate Poisson model and assess the effect of status change on outpatient and inpatient service utilization. I find clear evidence of response to within-individual variations in cost sharing. Results indicate statistically significant (positive and negative) demand responses for outpatient services for status changes from NHI to MA type 2 and from MA type 2 to NHI. As change of status induces change in copayment (from approximately 30% to 15% or lower), the response, controlling for income and other potential cofounders, reflects healthcare demand response to price. In fact, the estimates based on a Poisson fixed effect indicates 26% and 21 % increase and decrease in outpatient service utilization. However, estimates indicate insignificant impact of status change on inpatient service utilization. I suspect that this is due to either different decision processes involved, or difficulty taking advantage of a lowered marginal cost as inpati…
abstract: This thesis consists of three unique essays on diverse topics with a shared emphasis on health behaviors and outcomes. The first essay highlights the healthcare demand response to price schedule changes in Korea’s healthcare market-which runs universal health coverage. The second and third essays each examines the role of both social capital and human capital in mitigating different health related outcomes. The first chapter considers the response of healthcare utilization of those who experience changes in price schedule when they are newly classified as National Health Insurance (NHI) enrollees or Medical Aid type 2 (MA type 2) beneficiaries under Korea’s universal health coverage. By addressing the question within the context of Korea’s healthcare market, where less than 3% of general population list price as a factor limiting access to healthcare services, I avoid over-estimation that may arise if demand response partly reflects unmet needs of participants or patients. To do so, I adapt a differences-in-differences approach to estimate Poisson model and assess the effect of status change on outpatient and inpatient service utilization. I find clear evidence of response to within-individual variations in cost sharing. Results indicate statistically significant (positive and negative) demand responses for outpatient services for status changes from NHI to MA type 2 and from MA type 2 to NHI. As change of status induces change in copayment (from approximately 30% to 15% or lower), the response, controlling for income and other potential cofounders, reflects healthcare demand response to price. In fact, the estimates based on a Poisson fixed effect indicates 26% and 21 % increase and decrease in outpatient service utilization. However, estimates indicate insignificant impact of status change on inpatient service utilization. I suspect that this is due to either different decision processes involved, or difficulty taking advantage of a lowered marginal cost as inpati…
author: Choi, Jennifer Lee
keywords: COVID-19, Education, Health Insurance, Suicide, Trust, Economics
date published: 2021-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:39:50Z
provider: Claremont Graduate University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Claremont Graduate University