Gwanak-gu Expands Medical Expense Support for Rare Disease Patients

Target Diseases Expanded from 951 Last Year to 1,038 Including Chronic Kidney Disease and Hemophilia...Support for Patient Copayments, Nursing Care Fees, Assistive Device Purchases, Respiratory Aids, and Special Dietary Expenses

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) is expanding the rare disease medical expense support project in accordance with the '2020 Major Guidelines for Medical Expense Support for Rare Disease Patients' revision.

Rare diseases refer to diseases with a prevalence population of 20,000 or fewer, or diseases that are difficult to diagnose, making the prevalence population unknown. Most rare diseases are difficult to cure and require high treatment costs, so medical expense support is absolutely necessary for low-income families.

The main revisions in the '2020 Major Guidelines for Medical Expense Support for Rare Disease Patients' include ▲expansion of medical expense support target diseases to 1,038 ▲exemption from income and property investigation in cases where elderly or severely disabled persons are among the obligors of support, and relaxation of the basic livelihood security obligor standards.

In particular, the number of diseases eligible for rare disease medical expense support has significantly increased from 951 last year to 1,038, so it is expected that more residents will benefit.

Eligible individuals will receive support for co-payments for medical care benefits related to the disease, nursing care expenses, purchase costs of assistive devices, rental fees for respiratory aids and cough stimulators, and costs for purchasing special diets.

Applicants must be health insurance subscribers registered with the National Health Insurance Service under the rare disease calculation exception, and must meet the income and property support criteria for both the patient’s household and the obligor’s household. The patient or their guardian can apply.

The district currently has 177 registered rare disease patients receiving medical expense support, including 74 with chronic kidney disease and 18 with hemophilia. In 2018, 822 million KRW and in 2019, 760 million KRW were supported, providing about 3 million KRW per person annually.

Mayor Park Jun-hee said, “We will make multifaceted efforts to ensure that patients suffering from rare diseases and their families are not left in the blind spots of social security and that the rights to health and welfare of rare disease patients are guaranteed.”

For inquiries, contact Gwanak-gu Public Health Center Regional Health Division (☎879-7172).

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