Ministry of Health and Welfare to Promote Childcare Integration and Pension Reform... Expansion of Essential Medical Services

New Government Work Plan Report
Promotion of 6 Health and Welfare Tasks

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The Ministry of Health and Welfare will pursue six core tasks including National Pension reform, early childhood education integration, and COVID-19 response.

On the 19th, the Ministry reported the new government’s work plan, stating, "We plan to focus on six core tasks to protect socially vulnerable groups thoroughly and extensively, and to improve public health and quality of life."

The core tasks are: ▲ thorough and extensive protection of vulnerable groups ▲ innovation in welfare investment for virtuous cycle between welfare and growth ▲ enhancement of welfare sustainability ▲ COVID-19 response: implementation of precision targeted quarantine ▲ expansion of essential medical services and measures for medically underserved areas to protect citizens’ lives ▲ leap to a global biohealth hub nation.

Promotion of 'Early Childhood Education Integration' in Welfare Sector, Including Pension Reform Measures

First, the Ministry will actively protect low-income groups from livelihood insecurity and urgent crises. As part of this, the median income standard for next year was raised by a record high of 5.27% on the 29th of last month. The median income standard is used as the support criterion for 76 welfare projects across 12 government ministries.

Additionally, to gradually raise the basic livelihood security system’s livelihood benefit standard from 30% to 35% of the median income, the Ministry plans to conduct a field survey this year and establish a roadmap by next year.

The welfare investment innovation task for a virtuous cycle between welfare and growth includes expanding support for work-family balance in response to low birth rates. The Ministry announced it will promote early childhood education integration (Yubotonghab) to provide high-quality care and education to all infants and young children regardless of daycare centers or kindergartens, and will coordinate stakeholders to prepare a phased integration plan.

Cho Gyu-hong, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, explained, "We are conducting practical consultations with related ministries such as the Ministry of Education regarding early childhood education integration, and the discussions include strengthening care, improving treatment, and funding issues." Regarding which ministry will take charge of early childhood education integration, Vice Minister Cho said, "The decision will not be made solely by inter-ministerial consultation but will be determined after hearing opinions from parents, schools, and experts."

To overcome the low birth rate and aging population crisis, the Ministry will reorganize the 'Low Birth Rate and Aging Society Committee' system. Subcommittees and divisions under the committee will be restructured according to changed circumstances, and considering that population issues are linked to policies of various ministries such as employment, finance, and defense, the committee’s role in coordinating and evaluating related policies will be expanded.

As the need for efficient management of social insurance and social security systems continues to be raised, the Ministry included institutional reform measures in the tasks. Regarding pension reform, the Ministry plans to start financial calculations this month to build consensus and support discussions in the National Assembly’s pension special committee. After completing the financial calculations, the Ministry will prepare a National Pension reform plan linked to the basic pension increase plan (from 300,000 KRW to 400,000 KRW) reflecting the committee’s discussions and submit it to the National Assembly.

Promotion of 'Targeted Quarantine' in Health Sector... Expansion of Essential Medical Services

The COVID-19 response will maintain the 'targeted quarantine' approach that the government has continuously emphasized. Based on 2 years and 7 months of experience, data, vaccines, and treatments, the government plans to maintain daily life while implementing precise quarantine measures in vulnerable infection areas. To this end, the government secured more than 10,000 'one-stop clinics' where testing, diagnosis, and prescription are all possible, and implemented a fast track to ensure high-risk groups can receive treatment prescriptions within a day.

The Ministry will also expand hospital beds for emergency patients. It will secure beds for special treatments needed by pediatric, maternity, and dialysis patients and provide additional fees. Furthermore, the number of emergency and special beds available for infectious disease patients will be expanded from 617 beds this year to 1,700 beds next year.

Following the recent incident at Asan Medical Center where a nurse died from a brain hemorrhage while on duty, measures to expand essential medical services will be pursued. Public policy fees will be introduced to restore medical infrastructure in fields that are avoided such as brain aneurysm craniotomy, and in areas with decreased demand such as pediatrics and maternity care. Additionally, policy fee increases will be applied to high-risk, high-difficulty surgeries and emergency surgeries that are infrequent but risky, such as heart and brain surgeries.

Support for maternity infrastructure, including increased delivery fees and support for vulnerable areas, as well as support for essential medical services running deficits, will be strengthened. Lee Ki-il, Second Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "For example, a children’s hospital in Seoul is running about an 8% deficit. We plan to compensate for the deficit through project evaluations so that such hospitals can continue operating."

Moreover, essential medical coverage will be expanded through health insurance expenditure reform. While the previous government thoroughly reevaluated coverage for MRI and ultrasound, which had been expanded, investments will be increased for essential medical services and high-cost drugs. Earlier in April, the leukemia treatment drug 'Kymriah' costing 360 million KRW was covered by health insurance, and this month, the spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) treatment drug 'Zolgensma' costing 2 billion KRW was also covered.

Finally, the Ministry reported the task of leaping to a global biohealth hub nation. Investment in bio R&D will be expanded to 1 trillion KRW by 2025, with focused support to secure core technologies such as messenger RNA (mRNA) platforms and universal vaccines. For international cooperation, the Ministry plans to hold the 'World Bio Summit' on October 25-26.

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