S. Korea¡¯s healthcare service costs snowball to hit $35 bn milestone H1

South Korea¡¯s healthcare service costs snowballing due to expanded health insurance coverage and fast population aging topped 50 trillion won ($35 billion) milestone in the first half.

According to data from the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), healthcare insurance claims amounted to 50.08 trillion won for the first six months of the year. The half-year figure has steadily increased from 31.12 trillion won in 2016, 33.98 trillion won in 2017, 36.78 trillion won in 2018, 41.98 trillion won in 2019 and 42.30 trillion won in 2020. The increase was mainly driven by the government¡¯s policy to expand insurance coverage of costly non-imbursed medical imaging also known as the Moon Jae-in Care combined with the increase in elderly population.

The country¡¯s health insurance balance is projected to hit a deficit of 1.4 trillion won next year after running a surplus in the previous two years.

Health insurance benefits for the elderly aged 65 and over have been on the rise. The costs reached 21.47 trillion won at the end of June, taking up 42.9 percent of the total. The numbers fell by 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier but gained 4.2 percentage points from 2016. The average monthly medical cost per person aged 65 and over was 423,284 won, up 3 percent from the same period last year. It is 2.6 times higher than the average based on the total population (162,428 won).

The government predicts that the deficit in healthcare spending would increase to 2.6 trillion won in 2024, 2.9 trillion won in 2025, and nearly double to 5 trillion won in 2026.

Experts advice legal protection in health insurance reserve and it under independent management subject to monitoring by financial authorities and the National Assembly.

[¨Ï Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]