Dancing with regulations

The legislature continues to go backward after it was pushed by the taxi union to disapprove the van-hailing service Tada four years ago.

PARK SU-RYEONThe author is head of the IT industry news department at the JoongAng Ilbo. At the end of last month, when the “remote medical care legislation” failed to be passed by the National Assembly despite start-ups’ desperate hopes, a health care platform became controversial for another reason. It is Ddocdoc, a doctor’s appointment app that is shifting to a paid service.

Ddocdoc is a well-known service to resolve the struggle of parents who have been waiting for hours at a local pediatrician’s office. Doctor’s offices also welcomed the service linking medical appointment information and hospitals’ electronic medical records. When Ddocdoc is charging 1,000 won ($0.75) per month, 1 million users complained of betrayal. Bbros, the operator of the service, explained that it was an inevitable decision as the deficits add up to more than 20 billion won over the past three years, and it is hard to get investment lately. Even if it is not the telemedicine that has been in the status of pilot program for 36 years, it is very hard for a private medical service platform to survive in Korea.

Nevertheless, Ddocdoc is better off than start-ups for remote medical services. It does not have to be anxious about opposition from the pharmaceutical industry or a lack of legal basis for the business. The secret is simple. It does not confront the existing order of “face-to-face treatment.”

Ddocdoc also arranged telemedicine during the Covid-19 pandemic but did not touch the “medicine delivery” the pharmaceutical industry opposes. I couldn’t help but wear a bitter smile when a company official said, “It is our business philosophy not to be on bad terms with the medical and pharmaceutical associations.”

Other start-ups have found business opportunities in the regulation itself. It is “L-Box,” a written judgments search service in which 43 percent of registered attorneys in Korea, which amounts to 14,500 lawyers, have signed up. It has established more than 2.62 million entries in the database with rulings shared by member lawyers.

It used the regulatory environment in which the general public can have free access to the written judgments from lower courts only when they go to the Supreme Court Library in Goyang, Gyeonggi, even though any court employee can easily search and read online.

The company feels at ease even when some worry that the court will make all rulings public. CEO Lee Jin said the court would not make such a decision suddenly. As more rulings become public, the search technology will become more important, he added. The company knows well about the limitations of the court.

But not all start-ups can coexist with regulations like these. Nor does the path guarantee their survival. Nevertheless, if such companies continue to be beaten up, the government’s “innovative growth” will only be an empty slogan.

At the National Assembly on Aug. 24, a pharmacist-turned-lawmaker said, “Why do we need a telemedicine platform? It can be left to the medical institutions.” I suspect she is involved in the “cartel of interest,” but he may not be the only one.

Both the governing and opposition parties are wary of interest groups with the parliamentary elections scheduled next year. The legislature continues to go backward after it was pushed by the taxi union to disapprove the van-hailing service Tada four years ago.