"Health Insurance Coverage, Strengthened"... Mooncare Continues as Is

President Moon Jae-in Announces in New Year's Address on the 7th

President Moon Jae-in

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] President Moon Jae-in emphasized his intention to steadily pursue the policy of strengthening health insurance coverage, known as 'Mooncare.' Despite strong opposition from the opposition party and some in the medical community, he made it clear that he intends to reduce the burden of medical expenses as originally planned.

In his New Year's address on the 7th, President Moon said, "We will strengthen health insurance coverage and significantly reduce the medical expenses burden, especially for severe diseases, vulnerable groups, and children." The policy to expand the proportion of medical expenses covered by health insurance has a phased plan scheduled until 2022, the final year of President Moon's term, since its announcement in August 2017. The goal is to reduce non-covered medical expenses and expand insurance coverage, thereby lowering the excessive medical expense burden experienced at the individual household level.

This year, sequential expansions are planned, including diagnostic auxiliary tests for endocrine, blood, and hematopoietic diseases, limited single rooms for infectious patients, spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spinal disease treatment, as well as chest and heart ultrasound. In particular, there are concerns that spinal MRI, which has more demand compared to the previously controversial brain and cerebrovascular MRI, could accelerate the deterioration of insurance finances. Due to the brain and cerebrovascular MRI expenses far exceeding initial expectations, insurance benefits were reduced for mild patients with simple dizziness.

Although concerns about the concentration of patients in large hospitals and insurance finances persist, the improvement in coverage rates, especially among vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and low-income households, is clear. President Moon appears to be supporting the policy implementation. For patients whose medical expenses are excessive relative to their income, there was a double-digit decrease within one year after the implementation of Mooncare, and for children, the elderly, and low-income groups, the increase in coverage rates or reduction in medical expenses was relatively greater.

Furthermore, with the National Assembly elections scheduled for April, there is a high possibility that political parties will propose pledges similar to Mooncare. Although the specific implementation methods may differ somewhat, both ruling and opposition parties agree on allocating more finances to the health and medical sector, which is closely related to the daily lives of the people.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.