Unmet healthcare needs depending on employment status

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of study is to find relevance between unmet healthcare needs and employment status and if factors have relevance to unmet healthcare needs due to "economic burden" and "no time to spare".

Methods: The study conducted a survey of 9163 respondents who said they needed a medical treatment or checkup were asked why the need for care was unmet.

Results: 22.9% of the respondents said they did not receive a medical treatment or checkup they needed at least once. The rate of unmet healthcare needs caused by "economic burden" was higher among temporary workers (ORs=2.13), day workers (ORs=1.92). However, the rate of unmet needs due to "no time to spare" was lower for temporary workers (ORs=.58) than for regular workers, studies (ORs=.33), housework (ORs=.26), early retirement (ORs=.19) and disease or injury (ORs=.07).

Conclusion: Non-regular waged workers were more likely to have an unmet need for healthcare due to "economic burden" than regular waged workers. On the other hand, regular waged workers were less likely to receive necessary healthcare services due to "no time to spare" than non-regular waged workers and economically inactive people.

Keywords: Employment; South Korea; Unmet healthcare needs.