Introduction of Private Medical Insurance to Supplement the Health Insurance Is in Travail

The outlook for the private medical insurance, which is being considered by the government, is likely to be the `supplementary health insurance` which makes up for the shortcomings of the current health insurance.

The private insurance would cover medical services, which are not covered by the current health insurance, and would insure patients` co-payments. However, some people point out that the introduction of the supplementary medical insurance may shrink the existing public health insurance and arouse the sense of incongruity.

`Task force to activate the private medical health insurance`, consisted of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW), the National Health Insurance Corp.(NHIC), the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, and the private insurance companies, submitted the final report entitled `the plan to improve the medical insurance system through the cooperation between the national public health insurance and the private medical insurance` to the Minister of Health and Welfare Kim Won-Gil yesterday.

The MHW plans to draw the bill for enforcement and to hold public hearing to speed up the introduction of the private medical insurance system.

According to the report, the public health insurance is still obligatory, and covers the minimum payment, whereas the supplementary medical insurance covers services that are not covered by the public health insurance, including high-quality medical care, special examination fee, food expenses, nursing fee, and the co-payments. The public health insurance will increase its allowance for the seriously ill patients, who are paying the half of the total medical fees.

In order to activate the supplementary medical insurance, the report also suggested the plan that deduces the income taxes for the workers who are enrolled in the supplementary medical insurance and that acknowledges the expenses of the corporate taxes for the companies which are enrolled in the supplementary medical insurance.

The MHW is also considering introducing the voucher style private medical insurance as an alternative to the supplementary style private insurance. According to the voucher style, the private medical insurance company is responsible for the payment after receiving a fixed portion of the premium from the public health insurance.

Although Minister Kim said that he would "introduce the private medical insurance through sufficient public hearings." civic groups are strongly opposing the introduction saying "if the private medical insurance is introduced, it will lead to inequality in health care among income brackets."

Moon Chul fullmoon@donga.com