Korean American health insurance and health services utilization¶

Abstract

The purpose of this ethnic group study was to describe the unique pattern of Korean Americans, as compared with the aggregate of Asian Americans, for: (a) the predisposing, enabling, and need factors for health service utilization, focusing specifically on the role of health insurance coverage; and (b) predictors of health insurance coverage. Using the behavioral model for health service utilization, data were selected from the 1992 National Health Insurance Survey (NHIS, 1994) for Korean Americans (n = 345) and Asian Americans (n = 3,059). Results differed between the Korean American group and the Asian American group. Health insurance coverage was the strongest predictor of Korean American utilization, and need factors lacked significance, suggesting that uninsured Korean Americans have less access regardless of need. For the aggregate Asian American group, need factors tempered the influence of health insurance on utilization. Results of this type of study may be helpful for designing and implementing health care services tailored for specific ethnic at-risk markets.

Different pathways in social support and quality of life between Korean American and Korean breast and gynecological cancer survivors

“…Indeed, almost half of KABG in the study responded that they had experienced language problems as a barrier to follow-up care. This finding is not only consistent with other results [5][6][7][8], but also seems to support the relationship between such difficulties and social networks. As a result, this suggests a definite need to provide translation services to resolve language issues and eliminate disparities in the health care system for cultural minorities.…”

“…For an immigrant population, however, living with and beyond cancer may place additional demands on service usage, psychosocial adjustment, and QOL. For Korean Americans, in particular, lack of familiarity with the US health care system, language barriers, inadequate health insurance coverage, lack of social support and networks, and unique cultural values and beliefs have been noted as significant factors influencing health outcomes [5][6][7][8]. Existing studies suggest that QOL issues for Korean American breast cancer survivors are different from those of other ethnic groups because of existing inequities in access to health care and in psychosocial distress [9].…”

Preventive Health Services Utilization Among Korean Americans

“…It is understandable that Korean Americans with limited income are concerned about additional medical expenses that the preventive service could bring about. Consistent with existing evidence (Carrasquillo, Carrasquillo, & Shea, 2000;Ryu, Young, & Park, 2001), there was a high prevalence of uninsured individuals among Korean Americans where a nearly one half of the respondents in our study reported not having any health insurance. Supporting previous literature on older Korean Americans (Jang et al, 2005;Sohn & Harada, 2005), this study also found health insurance to be one of the most important predictors of the use of preventive health services among Korean American adults in any ages: Korean American adults with health insurance were three times more likely to use preventive services than those with no health insurance.…”

Does Access to Care Still Affect Health Care Utilization by Immigrants? Testing of an Empirical Explanatory Model of Health Care Utilization by Korean American Immigrants with High Blood Pressure

“…The predisposing factors in this study were age, marital status, years of residence in the US, and competing life priorities. Years of residence , as a proxy of acculturation, was included in the present model because previous studies have shown that years of residence is a strong predictor of health care utilization among immigrants to the US [28, 32]. Life priorities measured how much the respondents prioritized health and HBP care over other life issues.…”

“…We also carefully reviewed the literature to identify known factors that influence health care utilization by immigrant populations in general, such as socioeconomic status, health insurance coverage [30], and the physical and mental health status of the individuals [17, 25]. Several important acculturation indicators, such as years of residence in the US, personal resources, and living arrangements (e.g., living with a spouse) [28, 32] have also been identified as barriers to health care utilization that are more pronounced among ethnic minority immigrants because of the cultural and language barriers that exist.…”