Purchase of Medical Devices for Rare and Intractable Disease Treatment Supported as 'Catastrophic Medical Expenses'

Ministry of Health and Welfare Announces Legislative Notice for Partial Amendment to the Act on Support for Catastrophic Medical Expenses

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] High-cost medical device purchase expenses for patients with rare and intractable diseases will also be supported as 'catastrophic medical expenses.'

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 19th that it has prepared a partial amendment to the 'Act on Support for Catastrophic Medical Expenses' and will announce it for legislative notice until the 29th of next month.

Currently, 'rare and urgent medical devices' used to diagnose or treat rare diseases, for which there are no alternative products domestically, are supplied in Korea by the Minister of Food and Drug Safety through the Korea Medical Device Safety Information Center.

These include cardiopulmonary surgery vascular tubes and catheters, vascular stents, balloon-expandable angioplasty catheters, catheter introducers, and central circulatory artificial blood vessels, but high-cost devices not listed for reimbursement pose a financial burden on vulnerable groups.

The amendment establishes the basis for supporting the purchase costs of these medical devices supplied domestically by the Minister of Food and Drug Safety under the 'Medical Devices Act' as catastrophic medical expenses.

It also clarifies the scope of sensitive information and unique identification information necessary for performing catastrophic medical expense support tasks and delegates this to the enforcement decree.

Opinions on this amendment can be submitted by mail to the Medical Security Management Division of the Ministry of Health and Welfare or through the integrated legislative notice system.

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