Healthcare Disparity in People with Disabilities: Comparison with the Non-Disabled in Korea

Background/Purpose: Since people with disabilities have restrictions on healthcare use due to physical, social and cultural barriers, people with disabilities meet their healthcare needs less than the nondisabled. The purposes of this study were (1) to identify disparities between adults with disabilities and non-disabled adults in healthcare utilization, and (2) to compare the pattern of disparities between adults with different types of disabilities and adults without disabilities in Korea.

Methods: Data source was the 2013 Korean Welfare Panel Study. This study examined the healthcare access of a national probability sample of 2,461 disabled and 11,320 nondisabled adults living in South Korea. This data were compared on health status, chronic health conditions, and utilization of healthcare between No Disability and Disability and across the different types of disabilites. Unmet healthcare needs were identified as reporting experience during the last 12 months when there was a need to see a doctor, but were unable to get it. This study assessed healthcare disparity by demographic variables, social variables and types of disability. Chi-square test and logistic regression were used to determine which variables were related to unmet healthcare needs.

Results: This study found evidence for the significant healthcare disparity between people with and without disabilities in Korea. People with disabilities, specially people with developmental disabilities were significantly more likely to report being in poor health than people without disabilities. People with developmental disabilities had a greater risk of having chronic health conditions compared with the non-disabled. Disability was predictive of lack of access to healthcare. Those with disabilities were more likely to not to have access to healthcare. Significant healthcare utilization disparities were found for cancer screening as well as for dental care. A total of 28.1% of people with disabilities and 22.3% of the general population had unmet healthcare needs. People with developmental disabilities had more unmet healthcare needs than the general population and other disabilities. Unmet healthcare needs of people with disabilities was related to sex, age, self-perceived health, marital status, income, occupation, and degree and types of disability.

Conclusions/Implications: Significant disparities in healthcare utilization were found for people with disabilities relative to the non-disabled. Findings also indicate potentially serious consequences for people with developmental disabilities, who need healthcare at higher rates than the nondisabled and are at increased risk of emerging secondary conditions if their healthcare needs unmet. Health promotion efforts must be specifically designed for this population.