Assemblyman Seo Young-seok: "No Severe Patients Should Be Unable to Receive Treatment Due to Economic Burden"

Policy Forum on "Quality of Life for Severe Asthma Patients" Hosted by Assemblyman Seo Young-seok

The policy discussion forum titled "Quality of Life of Severe Asthma Patients: Policy Discussion to Improve Treatment Blind Spots," hosted by Seo Young-seok, a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, and organized by the Korean Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology, was held on the 25th.

The forum examined the suffering of severe asthma patients who give up treatment due to economic burdens and their low quality of life, while engaging in various discussions to address the treatment blind spots.

Assemblyman Seo Young-seok stated, "Due to the poor policy environment, severe asthma patients have no choice but to rely on steroids despite side effects. The government and health authorities must actively step up to improve their quality of life and enable a healthy daily life." He added, "I will take the lead to ensure that the discussions lead to practical improvements in the severe asthma treatment environment so that patients do not give up treatment due to economic burdens."

Ji Young-gu, Chairman of the Korean Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology, said, "Appropriate treatments can alleviate symptoms of severe asthma patients and reduce the risk of death caused by exacerbations and attacks, but treatment coverage remains low."

Professor Kim Tae-beom of the Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at Seoul Asan Medical Center, who presented on "Disease Burden and Quality of Life of Severe Asthma Patients," explained, "Until now, severe asthma has been regarded as a relatively mild disease like general asthma, but in reality, it is a severe disease with a quality of life lower than that of cancer patients. It is time to improve treatment accessibility for suffering severe asthma patients."

Professor Jung Jae-won of the Department of Respiratory Allergy at Ilsan Paik Hospital, who gave the second presentation titled "Stolen Breath, Treatment Blind Spots in Severe Asthma," emphasized, "Due to institutional limitations in our country, it is difficult to treat severe asthma patients according to asthma treatment guidelines. Since the biological agents that show treatment effects vary for each patient, an integrated review of reimbursement for all biological agents is necessary."

In the subsequent discussion, opinions were shared on ways to improve the domestic severe asthma treatment environment. The discussants included Kim Jin-ah, Secretary General of the Korea Rare and Intractable Disease Alliance; Oh Chang-hyun, Director of the Insurance Drug Policy Division at the Ministry of Health and Welfare; Yoo Mi-young, Director of Drug Management at the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service; and Professor Kim Min-hye of the Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital.

Secretary General Kim Jin-ah said, "The quality of life of severe asthma patients presented on site has not changed significantly compared to reports from 10 years ago. To improve quality of life, it is necessary to diversify treatment options through reimbursement of biological agents and apply special calculation cases to severe asthma as well."

Director Oh Chang-hyun stated, "Biological agents are expected to reduce the socioeconomic costs caused by severe asthma and improve quality of life. We will expedite the reimbursement review process in the second half of the year to reduce patient burdens."

Professor Kim Min-hye pointed out that the rate of continuous oral steroid use among severe asthma patients in Korea is 92.9%, more than 4.5 times that of the United States, calling it "a backward drug use practice and a shameful matter." She added, "Currently, although various biological agents exist in Korea, reimbursement is not provided, causing treatment blind spots. To prevent inequity in treatment among patients, reimbursement for biological agents should be reviewed simultaneously."

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