How Good is Korean Health Care? An International Comparison of Health Care Systems

Abstract

The aim of the study is to assess the maturity of Korean health care in comparison of OECD countries and to provide a foundation from which the quality and competitiveness of Korean health care system is evaluated. Using data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the performance of the health care of thirty industrialized countries in 2003 are compared. The comparisons focus on three dimensions that have centered in health care debates across countries for years: access, cost, and outcomes. Even though Korea has successfully achieved universal health insurance in a short period of time and possessed highly advanced medical technologies, we find that Korean people pay more out-of-pocket expenditures on their health care and their health outcomes are relatively of low quality compared with other OECD countries.