Korea behind in healthcare costs

By Kang Ye-won

Considering the country has one of the world’s lowest birth rates and its general population is aging fast, Korea finds itself needing to boost it.

The nation’s total health expenditure per capita was $1,879 in 2009, compared with the OECD average of $3223.

The figures are adjusted to make one-on-one comparisons possible by using purchasing power parity, which represent rates of currency conversion equalizing the cost of given baskets of goods and services in different nations.

In 2010, 13 percent of Korea’s total population was 65 or older, while those aged 15 to 64 years accounted for 70 percent, according to the World Health Organization.

The birth rate slid to 1.2 in 2010 compared to 4.5 in the 1970s.

Although it is behind other OECD members, the nation’s health spending has increased since the second half of the 1980s when national health insurance was created, however, experts say the government’s spending is not enough.

“Due to Korea’s fast track heading toward a super-aging society, two big trends in healthcare include an increase of chronic disease and rising healthcare costs,” said Lee Seung-chul, a research fellow at Samsung Economic Research Institute.

“A tight economy will also play a factor in the government’s shrinking healthcare coverage.”

The private share of health funding accounted for 32 percent of the nation’s total spending in 2009.

In other words, the state still covers much of healthcare costs.

This is in sharp contrast with the United States, where private health insurance companies lead the way, leaving only 12 percent of healthcare paid directly by consumers.

The United States tried to introduce universal coverage but settled for less than that. There is a systematic resistance under way to water down President Barack Obama’s initiative.

The number of people dying from cancer, the leading cause of death, took up 28 percent in 2008, followed by cerebrovascular disease at 11 percent and heart disease at 9 percent.

In many cases, the state health insurance doesn’t provide full coverage for serious illnesses. Private coverage for cancer and terminal diseases is by and large regarded as a backup and such products have a large number of subscribers.

The total health spending was 6.9 percent of gross domestic product in 2009, fourth from bottom of the OECD list and well below its average, according to the agency’s latest data.