Background
From January 20, 2020, since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Korea, we have complied with social distancing and personal hygiene for over two years. Non-face-to-face life brought about an economic downturn and changed consumption p...
Background
From January 20, 2020, since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Korea, we have complied with social distancing and personal hygiene for over two years. Non-face-to-face life brought about an economic downturn and changed consumption patterns. This study analyzed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the household income and expenditure on healthcare.
Data and Methods
Data were collected from the Statistics Korea - Household Income and Expenditure Survey, starting from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the third quarter of 2021. The characteristics of households were specified by principal component analysis in combination with quantification method I, while the influence of the selected principal component on health expenditure was examined in terms of outpatients, hospitalizations, and medicines. A cluster analysis was performed with the scale assigned to the principal components, and the changes of major income and consumption items by cluster were analyzed using t-test.
Result
Considering the newly proposed principal component analysis, three principal components were calculated with the following characteristics: "Dual-income households with children," "Elderly business households" and "Non-working households." The regression analysis on health expenditure resulted in regression coefficients of the three principal components which were ₩2,341,350, ₩4,529,041, and ₩1,827,835, respectively, which were all significant. Elderly business households had the largest expenditure on outpatients, hospitalizations, and medicines, and overall health expenditure among the three principal components. Contrastingly, non-working households spent more on hospitalization than dual-income households with children. Additionally, the overall health expenditure increased in all quarters since COVID-19; outpatient expenditures decreased and medicines expenditures increased, depending on specific periods of the pandemic and vaccination.
In the cluster analysis, the clusters were divided into "Elderly business households," "Working households with children," and "Single households." Primary incomes for all clusters have declined since the beginning of COVID-19. The disposable income of elderly business households, particularly, decreased the most and the propensity to consume of single households decreased the least. Social distancing raised the proportion of expenditure on food and household goods, and reduced consumption of eating out, shopping, and transportation that accompany outdoor activities. Moreover, in the case of working households with children, the proportion of expenditure on eating out rather than buying groceries was higher due to economic activity, but COVID-19 changed the rankings of both expenditure categories. On the contrary, health expenditure by cluster changed in the same direction regardless of household characteristics. Outpatient expenditure decreased, medicine expenditure increased, and there was no significant difference in instances of hospitalization. The outpatient expenditure of elderly households, particularly, who are vulnerable, has significantly decreased compared to other clusters.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the decline of household incomes. Income fell sharply in the low-income class, while the propensity to consume did not lessen as income decreased. Although the items of reduced consumption expenditure differed slightly according to the characteristics of households, the pattern of consumption of essential goods increased and decreased in the same direction regardless of the presence of children, age, or level of economic activity. Changes in health expenditure due to COVID-19 were largely affected by vulnerability and inevitability. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare for disaster situations through continuous research and development in the crisis economy and utilization of healthcare infrastructure for the vulnerable.