[The impact of partial cost sharing on the attitude of insured persons with hypertension].
The study evaluated the impact of the October 1984 introduction of 10% cost sharing on insured persons belonging to the Employees' Health Insurance Scheme. There was a total of 199 subjects with hypertension, all of whom were insured by a health insurance society under the scheme from January 1982 to March 1986. The consultation rate for hypertension, as revealed by the medical receipts, was studied with time sequential analysis to evaluate the impact. Moreover, the differences of the impact pertinent to sex, age, medical facility, first year of visit and complications were analyzed. The results are as follows. 1. The study disclosed an increase in the rate of consultation during the six-month period before the introduction and a substantial decrease in the rate during the following six months. The impact proved to be temporary because the rate of consultation returned to the originally estimated level. 2. The impact on insured persons whose first year of visit was more recent was larger than that of those whose first year of visit was before 1980. The impact on patients with complications was larger than that on those without complications. 3. The effect of the first year of visit was independent of that of complications.
Babazono
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A
Department of Hygiene, Okayama University Medical School.
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003669:Deductibles and Coinsurance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000523:psychology*; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged