NHIS Promotes Tobacco Lawsuit Appeal to Local Residents

The National Health Insurance Service announced on the 26th that it promoted the tobacco lawsuit appeal trial at the '2023 Wonju Dancing Carnival.'

The Service operated a tobacco lawsuit promotion booth targeting event participants and Wonju citizens to conduct a survey on the harmfulness of smoking and awareness of the tobacco lawsuit. Additionally, it raised awareness of the legitimacy of the Service's tobacco lawsuit, urged tobacco companies to take responsibility for diseases such as lung cancer caused by smoking, and conducted campaigns including collecting citizens' support signatures.

On the 24th, the corporation conducted a survey on awareness of smoking damage and promoted tobacco litigation at the '2023 Wonju Dancing Carnival'.

An official from the Service stated, "According to the survey on awareness of smoking damage, about 95% of participating citizens believe that smoking affects the development of diseases such as lung cancer, and 721 Wonju citizens joined the signature campaign supporting the tobacco lawsuit."

In 2014, the Service filed a lawsuit seeking damages amounting to 53.3 billion KRW against tobacco companies (KT&G, Korea Philip Morris, BAT Korea). This was to prevent the leakage of National Health Insurance funds caused by smoking-related diseases and to promote effective tobacco regulation policies by holding tobacco companies accountable for smoking-related damages.

However, the first-instance court did not recognize the causal relationship between smoking and diseases such as lung cancer and ruled in favor of the tobacco companies in 2020. The Service immediately appealed, and the appeal trial is currently underway.

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