Topic： Unintended Impacts of Abolition of Co-payment on Outpatient Utilization in South Korea: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design

Speaker：Moon Joon Kim

Time：14:30-16:00, May3, 2018

Site：EMS B226

Abstract: In June 2007, a medical amendment was passed in South Korea to transition from a co-payment to a co-insurance program for use in outpatient services effective August 2007 in order to increase the medical burden of the insured and to control excessive use of healthcare services and expenditures. This paper estimates the impact of health insurance reform on outpatient healthcare utilization. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find that the abolition of the co-payment program significantly increases system-wide outpatient healthcare utilization and outpatient visits per capita by approximately 120 percent and 30 percent, respectively, while healthcare cost per visit significantly decreases by 12 percent. The abolition of co-payment incentivized beneficiaries to enroll for private health insurance that covers outpatient medical costs, allowing them access to more medical services with less cost. Therefore, this study suggests that interaction effects between related policies should be taken into careful consideration.

Introduction to the Speaker: Moon Joon Kim is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Economics in the Master of Environmental Policy (iMEP) Program at Duke Kunshan University. He received his PhD in economics from North Carolina State University in 2017. His current research interests focus on Environmental Economics and Health Economics.