Jo Gyu-hong "Pension Reform Transparently Disclosed... Discussing Indoor Mask Removal with Experts"

No Plan to Reduce Health Insurance Coverage

Cho Kyu-hong, Minister of Health and Welfare.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Cho Kyu-hong, Minister of Health and Welfare, stated on the 11th regarding the National Pension reform discussions, "We will transparently disclose information to the public and provide opportunities for direct participation in the pension reform process."

Minister Cho appeared on KBS 1 Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strongest Current Affairs' and said, "We plan to release the long-term projection results, originally scheduled for March, within this month." The government previously estimated the deficit point of the National Pension long-term projection to be 2042 and the depletion point to be 2057, but these are currently being revised.

Minister Cho added, "Under the principle of creating reform plans together with the public, we are closely cooperating with the National Assembly and experts," and "We will collect public opinions during the public discussion process and, based on social deliberations, announce the comprehensive National Pension operation plan by the end of October."

Regarding National Health Insurance reform, he firmly denied any plans to reduce coverage. Minister Cho explained, "Some items such as MRI and ultrasound have increased too rapidly in a short period, so these need to be reconsidered," adding, "We plan to thoroughly prevent wasteful factors and redirect resources toward essential medical care." Specifically, he mentioned raising the co-payment rate for excessive medical service users, setting low burden rates for rare and severe patients along with support for related complications, and strengthening conditions for foreign dependents.

On the lifting of the indoor mask-wearing mandate, he said plans to discuss with experts are underway. He stated, "The cumulative positive rate among arrivals from China is about 17%, which is lower than initially feared, but we need to monitor the situation," and "We will report the timing of lifting the mandate to the public after discussions with experts." No specific timing for lifting was provided.

Meanwhile, Minister Cho explained that plans to revive essential medical care and address disparities in medical services are being prepared from two perspectives: fair compensation and medical workforce supply. Regarding the development of public policy fees, he said, "We will strengthen compensation for relatively undervalued surgeries and hospitalizations, and provide post-compensation for severe pediatric care, which inevitably runs a deficit," and "We will also develop additional regional fees to reduce regional disparities." In terms of medical workforce, he mentioned prioritizing essential medical care and regional hospitals, supporting the training of specialists, and preventing concentration in the metropolitan area through regional bed supply and demand management plans. Minister Cho added, "We will promptly begin consultations with the medical community to expand medical school quotas and institutionalize telemedicine."

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