2001 Volume 9 Pages 5-22
The financial performance of health insurance societies in Japan has worsened because of increasing elderly health care cost and the economic recession. This study is to quantify the characteristics of societies to determine the indicators for the cost burden of elderly health care. The indicators were inpatient，outpatient and medical cost per enrolled elderly person and the cost share for elderly health care per insured person in the societies. The subjects were 1816 societies that were member of the Health Insurance Society Association in 1996. The related characteristics of societies and the magnitude of the effect were different among the indicators. The dependent rate was strongly related to the cost share for the elderly health care per insured person and the standardized regression coefficient was 0.598 by the multiple regression analysis. The cost share for elderly health care per insured person is proportionate to each insurerer's health care cost per the enrolled elderly and the dependent rate. No society can decrease its cost if it insures a disproportionate number of sick and older people or dependents. The current cost-sharing redistributes elderly health care cost unequally.
