Aging Risk and Health Care Cost in Korea

To analyze the impact of population aging on medical costs in South Korea, the authors use several approaches. Observation of the medical cost profile by age showed that, as the data was closer to the present, the medical costs for older people increased. The treatment quantity excluding price index was also increasing for older people. This implies that the medical resources that are allocated to older people are increasing, due to the increased resources applied to extend the expected life span that was enabled through higher income levels, rather than by aging itself.