Abstract

While research on domestic health inequality in Korea has grown in quantity, a small but steady stream of policy research on health inequality has also been published since the 2010. Policy evaluation studies tend to be more common than policy analysis studies. Many of the Policy evaluation studies have analyzed the effect on equity of health insurance coverage policies. Most studies used secondary data, while some used primary survey data or qualitative interview data. New research topics and methods have also been explored since 2015. Some research projects on health equity policy have been successful, leading to the policy adoption and implementation. In other cases, valuable research results could not be implemented due to political circumstances. Currently, there is an imbalance between research on health inequality status and pathway versus studies focused on policy. To further address health inequalities in Korea, additional emphasis should be placed on research directed towards implementation of policy. Apart from measuring the effect of public health policies on equity, it is also necessary to expand the research topics to analyze and evaluate the effects of policies in other sectors as the socioeconomic determinants of health. Systematic planning and evaluation of interventions aimed towards reducing health inequalities should be promoted. Efforts should be made to identify and use new research methods to produce more accurate results. Finally, it is necessary to establish an organization or institute that can support health policy research, including health equity policy research, throughout the planning, support, synthesis of the results, and dissemination.