It is reported that the rate of national health screening of disabled people is lower than that of non-disabled people, and the medical cost of disabled people is increasing every year. As such, people with disabilities are vulnerable to social, economic, and medical problems. It is considered that there are differences medical care utilization before and after disability registration. The purpose of this study was to investigate the medical care utilization status of the disabled people before and after the disability registration through the rate of national health screening, medical costs, the number of hospital visits, and monthly hospitalization rate in the persons with physical disability or brain lesion disability.
We enrolled persons with disability who have been registered first into the physical disability and brain lesion disability from 2009 to 2011. From 2002 to 2016, the data were analyzed based on the cohort data of the National Health Insurance Corporation. Among the medial records the rate of national health screening, total medical costs, the number of hospital visits, and the monthly hospitalization rate were compared before and after the disability registration.
The average daily medical expenses in the non-disabled people were maintained at a certain level. However, the daily average medical expenses in the disabled people increased sharply from the disability registration to the one year after the disability registration. The number of hospital visits in the non-disabled people increased gradually, but the number of hospital visits in the disabled people sharply increased and then decreased from the time of the disability registration to the one year after the disability registration. The monthly hospitalization rate in the non-disabled people were maintained at a certain level. However, the monthly hospitalization rate in the disabled people sharply increased and then decreased from the time of the disability registration to the one year after the disability registration. The rate of national health screening gradually increased in the non-disabled people. The rate of national health screening in the disabled people was maintained at a certain rate until the time of the disability registration, but gradually decreased from the point of 2 years after the disability registration.
The medical costs, the number of hospital visits, and monthly hospitalization rate in the persons with physical disability or brain lesion disability sharply increased and then decreased from the time of the disability registration to the 1 year after disability registration. The rate of national health screening in the disabled people gradually decreased from the time of 2 years after the disability registration. This suggests that healthcare after disability is difficult to manage as before disability and the burden of medical costs increases after disability. Therefore active health care policy is needed to support the disabled people. |
