Exploring the Healthcare Seeking Behavior of Medical Aid Beneficiaries Who Overutilize Healthcare Services: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

Jeonghyun Cho, Kyungin Jeong, Samsook Kim and Hyejin Kim
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Jeonghyun Cho: Department of Nursing, Inje University, Busan 47392, Korea
Kyungin Jeong: Department of Nursing, Daedong College, Busan 46270, Korea
Samsook Kim: Department of Nursing, Daedong College, Busan 46270, Korea
Hyejin Kim: Red Cross College of Nursing, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Korea

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 14, 1-9

Abstract: We explored the healthcare seeking behavior of Medical Aid (MA) beneficiaries who over-utilize healthcare services in South Korea. We employed a qualitative descriptive study using semi-structured interviews with fifteen community-dwelling MA beneficiaries—who were categorized as over-utilizing healthcare services—and conventional content analysis. Four categories emerged: having unmet healthcare needs, wandering in search of effective healthcare services, routinizing their use of healthcare services, and being concerned about benefit restrictions due to their healthcare overutilization. Overall, these categories indicate participants’ behaviors used to fill the gap between their high healthcare needs and restricted MA benefits. The findings provide a foundation for healthcare providers, policymakers, researchers, and MA beneficiaries to discuss how to better address beneficiaries’ healthcare needs while preventing healthcare overutilization patterns. Effective and innovative interventions that target MA beneficiaries and their case managers are necessary to improve beneficiaries’ quality of life.

Keywords: health seeking behavior; Medical Aid; medical overuse; qualitative research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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