노인가구주가계의 과부담 의료비 지출에 관한 연구 : 전기노인가계와 후기노인가계 간 차이를 중심으로

Rapidly aging population in Korea indicates that the financial burden of healthcare expenditure among the elderly will increase. As diversity increases among the elderly, it is important to examine age difference within the older population. The current study investigated whether there are age differences in the incidence of catastrophic healthcare expenditure(CHE) and the predictors of CHE between the young-old(household head aged 65-74) and the old-old(household head aged 75 and over). CHE is defined as healthcare expenditures that exceed a certain portion of households’ ability to pay. Using the Korea Health Panel Survey(KHPS) in 2015, the current study compared the incidence of CHE and the influencing factors affecting this incidence between the young-old and the old-old, Healthcare expenditure thresholds of 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% of ability to pay were applied. The proportions of the young-old with CHE at each threshold level were 50.5%, 29.7%, 18.4%, and 13.0%, whereas those of the old-old were 62.7%, 38.3%, 26.8%, and 20.0%, respectively. A logistic regression model was used to identify influencing factors affecting CHE incidence, which includes demographics, social economic factors, health status, health insurance type and healthcare service usage. The results show that the predictors of CHE vary depending on the age group. Based on the findings, implications for policymakers and scholars were discussed.