Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
NHIS plays crucial role in battling COVID-19
Medical workers move a COVID-19 patient at the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) Ilsan Hospital in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Courtesy of NHIS
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
Korea has been attracting attention from the international community for its prompt and effective response to the coronavirus pandemic, setting an example for other countries to follow. At the center of the nation's unprecedented efforts to combat the virus is the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), which has been playing a key role in the country's success in managing the COVID-19 pandemic.
In emergency preparedness for medical response to the virus, there are several factors which led Korea to gain global attention ― fast and extensive testing, contact tracing, isolation, and treatment of confirmed cases. Above all, Korea's low-cost, accessible healthcare system, run by the NHIS, has drawn particular praise from medical experts at home and abroad.
Medical workers prepare to carry out COVID-19 tests at a makeshift clinic set up in front of the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) Ilsan Hospital in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Courtesy of NHIS
“The national health insurance system eased the burden of medical expense on the household economy during the pandemic,” said the NHIS President Kim Yong-ik. “The national health insurance system is a safety net that allows the public to spend without worrying about medical expenses.”
The COVID-19 infection costs as much as tens of millions of won from diagnosis to treatment. However, patients do not have to worry about the cost for treatment as the national health insurance covers most of the cost.
According to data from the NHIS, the average hospital bill for a COVID-19 patient in a serious condition came to 70 million won ($57,580) at general hospitals, while patients with mild symptoms averaged around 3.3 million won. The cost of treatment for patients infected by COVID-19 varies depending on the severity of symptoms.
Patients who have mild symptoms usually go to a so-called “life treatment center” to be kept in isolation and closely monitored by quarantine officials. Patients in a serious condition are divided into two groups ― those who can breathe by themselves but need oxygen therapy, and those in critical conditioning who require machine respiration support or use of an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) device ― a device that functions as an artificial lung to oxygenate the patient's blood. Treatment occurs in negative pressure isolation rooms and includes pathological testing, administration of drugs and ECMO.
The NHIS said the average cost of treating a mildly patient is 180,000 won per day at its hospitals and 260,000 won at a general hospital. The cost for severe patients is up to 650,000 won per day.
Patients who take a test at the recommendation of their doctor and those who test positive are not required to pay for the test and any resulting treatment. For example, a treatment cost of a patient who was discharged from hospital in early April totaled nearly 9.7 million won, but he paid only 40,000 won as the national insurance covered almost the total amount, the NHIS said.
On the other hand in the United States, where the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has gone above 5,000 in April when the crisis reached its peak there, commentators often stress that the initial prevention response has failed partly due to the expensive testing and treatment costs.
According to a study released by America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the average cost to treat a hospitalized patient with the virus is $30,000. Another analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation, an American non-profit organization, mainly dealing with health care issues, estimates that the average cost of COVID-19 treatment for a patient without complications, and who holds health insurance through their employer, would be about $9,760, while a patient with medical complications may see bills about double that at $20,290.
As a result, it is a huge burden for people who do not have personal health insurance to undergo treatment.
Likewise, Korea's success against COVID-19 could come in part due to both the single-payer healthcare system, in which most of the population is covered by the compulsory national health insurance scheme and the high quality of care provided by the private health sector. The balance and partnership of private hospitals and the public insurance system enables universal accessibility as well as successful control in the COVID-19 crisis.
This is mainly thanks to the basic concept of the government's goal to expand the coverage ratio of the national health insurance to 70 percent of all medical expenses under the Moon Jae-in administration. Dubbed “Mooncare,” its basic concept is to expand the coverage of the state-run health insurance.
Korea provides universal healthcare through the NHIS. It requires all citizens to pay premiums and the insurance covers parts of medical costs in general. People usually purchase additional private insurance to cover larger medical expenses, such as treatments for major accidents or cancer.
Through this plan, the Moon administration pledges to continue to build a country where people can receive treatment without having to worry about expenses.
Big data plays critical role
The agency also played a major role in the management of patients by disease control authorities and medical institutions.
When test results are confirmed, patients are classified and treated by their underlying disease and severity. Data collected by the NHIS is used in the process of classification to help the health authorities respond swiftly.
Namely, analysis of big data made it possible to classify high- and low-risk patients taking into consideration pre-existing medical conditions when placing patients in treatment facilities.
Based on the data, quarantine authorities classified those patients into two groups ― mild and severely-ill patients ― so that medical workers can allocate resources to those who showed serious symptoms who need intensive treatment.
As a result, Korea showed the relatively low mortality rate, 2.29 percent, as of June 16, when compared with other countries.
“The process of the country's COVID-19 response was similar to the candlelit revolution between 2016 and 2017. Although it was led by the government, it could never be successful without active participation and cooperation from citizens,” Kim said.
“The immediate response of the health authorities and the transparency in their decision making made people feel a sense of achievement. This great sense of community and social cohesion has driven progress in our fight against the coronavirus pandemic in Korea.”