The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of inequality on household medical expenditure distribution and household catastrophic medical expenditure based on the raw data of the Korean Health Panel over the years 2009 to 2014.
The proportion of household total medical expenditure to household income in 2014 was 16.9% in 1st income quartiles, 9.7% in 2nd income quartiles, 5.7% in 3rd income quartiles, 4.1% in 4th income quartiles, and 2.5% in 5th income quartiles.
The Gini coefficient for distribution of household medical expenditure was 0.548, 0.536, 0.533, 0.527, 0.523, 0.528 respectively between 2009 and 2014.
The Gini coefficient for distribution of household medical expenditure according to income quartile was higher in lower income household than that of higher income household.
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* A thesis submitted to the Committee of the Graduate School of Kyungpook National University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. in June 2017.


The annual incidence rates of household catastrophic medical expenditure in 2014 were 27.7%, 12.5%, 6.6% and 4.5% in the threshold levels of 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% respectively.
The incidence rate of household catastrophic medical expenditure was higher when the total annual household income was lower, the age of the householder was older, the number of household members was smaller, the education level of the householder was lower, the healthcare coverage type was National Health Insurance, the householder had disability, and the prevalence rate of the chronic disease of the household was higher(p<0.05).
In consideration of above findings, there was inequality of household medical expenditure distribution and the household medical expenditure was higher when the total household income was lower. Therefore, a policy for vulnerable households should be established.