{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,24]],"date-time":"2026-09-24T20:00:36Z","timestamp":1790280036159,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":17,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"6-7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,3]],"date-time":"2026-07-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783036800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100010800","name":"Sungshin Women\u2019s University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["Sungshin Women\u2019s University Research Grant of 20"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Sungshin Women\u2019s University Research Grant of 20"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100010800","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Asia Pac J Public Health"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted health care utilization worldwide, followed by uneven recovery patterns. South Korea also experienced this recovery disruption due to the nationwide medical strike in 2024. Especially, this medical strike raised concerns about the vulnerability and instability of the national health care system amid supply-side shocks during the post-crisis recovery. Its impacts and aftermaths need to be analyzed and evaluated for the latter response. In this article, we investigated changes in health care utilization and costs using National Health Insurance claims data across six phases: pre-COVID (2018-2019), early COVID (2020), mid-COVID (2021), late COVID (2022), recovery (2023), and the 2024 medical strike. In this work, we found that health care utilization declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, partially rebounded in 2023, and declined again during the 2024 strike. On the contrary, aggregate and per-patient health care expenditures increased during the recovery period and remained elevated during the strike despite reduced patient volumes. Per-patient expenditures rose most prominently in surgical and emergency-related specialties. We confirmed our results, suggesting that health care recovery may remain fragile and susceptible to subsequent supply-side disruptions. They also highlighted the need for specialty-sensitive monitoring and policy responses to support system resilience and patient financial protection.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/10105395261458498","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,3]],"date-time":"2026-07-03T09:10:15Z","timestamp":1783069815000},"page":"491-497","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Changes in Health Care Utilization and Costs During the 2024 Medical Strike in Korea: Evidence From a Specialty-Level Analysis"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"38","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3788-8934","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hyangmi","family":"Kim","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical and Digital Engineering, Hanyang University\/LG AI Research, Seoul, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2750-8723","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joon Young","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of AI Convergence, Sungshin Women\u2019s University, Seoul, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_2_2_2","unstructured":"Ministry of Health and Welfare Republic of Korea. Press Release. Published February 6 2024. Accessed July 4 2025. https:\/\/www.mohw.go.kr\/board.es?mid=a10503000000&bid=0027&list_no=1480186&act=view"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Song J Kang K Cho J et al. Impact of medical crisis on the competency of surgical conduct regarding departmental institutional and regional distribution in Korea: a national insurance claim data analysis. J Korean Med Sci. 2025;40(49):e288. doi:10.3346\/jkms.2025.40.e288","DOI":"10.3346\/jkms.2025.40.e288"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Chang YR Cho JH Cho J et al. Impact of medical crisis on the critical care system in South Korea. Acute Crit Care. 2025;40(3):393-401. doi:10.4266\/acc.000575","DOI":"10.4266\/acc.000575"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_5_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Han C. Changes in the nationwide number of emergency department visits following the junior physicians\u2019 walkout in South Korea: an interrupted time-series analysis. Public Health. 2025;249:105984. doi:10.1016\/j.puhe.2025.105984","DOI":"10.1016\/j.puhe.2025.105984"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_6_2","unstructured":"World Medical Association. World Medical Association stands firm in support of Korean Medical Association amid government-induced crisis. Published March 1 2024. Accessed August 1 2025. https:\/\/www.wma.net\/news-post\/world-medical-association-stands-firm-in-support-of-korean-medical-association-amid-government-induced-crisis\/"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_7_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2008.09.044"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_8_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1475-6773.14022"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_9_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/hpm.3418"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_10_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/MEJ.0000000000001093"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_11_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/hpm.3610"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_12_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMp068148"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_13_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5334\/pme.1426"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_14_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3346\/jkms.2025.40.e64"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_15_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3346\/jkms.2025.40.e112"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_16_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/10105395241282981"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_17_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/10105395231213171"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_18_2","unstructured":"Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service. Statistics on diseases by medical department in hospital-level institutions and above (December 31 2024) [dataset]. Public Data Portal. Published 2024. Accessed May 17 2026. https:\/\/www.data.go.kr\/data\/15055567\/fileData.do"}],"container-title":["Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/10105395261458498","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/10105395261458498","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/10105395261458498","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,24]],"date-time":"2026-09-24T19:18:26Z","timestamp":1790277506000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/10105395261458498"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,3]]},"references-count":17,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6-7","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/10105395261458498"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/10105395261458498","relation":{},"ISSN":["1010-5395","1941-2479"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1010-5395","type":"print"},{"value":"1941-2479","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,3]]}}}