Gyeongbuk Office of Education Provides 64 Million Won in Medical Expenses to 96 Students with Intractable Diseases This Year... "Helped 1,438 Students Over 23 Years"

The Gyeongbuk Office of Education (Superintendent Im Jong-sik) has been running a project to support medical expenses for students with intractable diseases since 2001, providing assistance to students in kindergartens, elementary, middle, high, special schools, various schools, and broadcasting and communication high schools in the Gyeongbuk region, encouraging their health recovery and dreams.

Started in 2001 as the first project of its kind nationwide, it has supported a total of 1,438 students with 11.818 billion KRW in medical expenses to date, with 141 students enjoying the joy of complete recovery. This year, the Gyeongbuk Office of Education selected 25 new support recipients and provided medical expenses amounting to over 64 million KRW to 96 students.

A support committee meeting to help students with intractable diseases is being held at the Gyeongbuk Office of Education Training Center.

The support targets are rare diseases and pediatric cancers designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as well as diseases additionally decided by the Intractable Disease Student Support Committee. The support items include inpatient medical expense co-payments, rehabilitation treatment co-payments among outpatient medical expenses, etc. For students with type 1 diabetes, medication costs and purchases of continuous glucose monitors and consumables up to an annual limit of 120,000 KRW are supported.

However, amounts received from other institutions or organizations such as the National Health Insurance Service or public health centers cannot be supported redundantly. The order of medical expense claims follows the principle of insurance - public health center - Office of Education to prevent double payments.

Applicants wishing to receive medical expense support must fill out the application form and prepare the required documents available on the Gyeongbuk Office of Education website (Physical Education and Health Department - Data Room - 2024 Intractable Disease Student Medical Expense Support Project Guidelines), submit them to their school, and the Gyeongbuk Office of Education will hold a subcommittee meeting to select new support recipients and determine support amounts.

Additionally, a support committee chaired by the vice superintendent and composed of 13 members including doctors, pharmacists, and teachers holds meetings twice a year in the first and second halves. They review newly selected recipients and rehabilitation treatment support funds decided by the subcommittee, and decide on support for medical assistive device purchases, high-cost medical expenses not covered by health insurance, and expensive drug purchases.

Major decisions by the support committee to expand the scope of support include support for broadcasting and communication high school students (up to age 18) starting in 2007, support for type 1 diabetes treatment costs for basic livelihood security recipients in 2008, support for leukemia and growth hormone treatment for short stature students in 2010, relaxation of income criteria for medical expense support in 2019, insulin medication support for type 1 diabetes in 2020, and annual support of 120,000 KRW for continuous glucose monitors and consumables for type 1 diabetes students in 2021.

The Gyeongbuk Office of Education provides retroactive support for up to one year from the support decision date for students hospitalized at the time of selection, and increases medical expense support without limit until complete recovery if the support recipient fails to apply for medical expense support in time. Furthermore, to ensure timely medical expense support, applications are accepted year-round on an ongoing basis, and subcommittee meetings are held monthly.

The Gyeongbuk Office of Education was recognized for this project’s contribution by receiving the Presidential Group Commendation on World Health Day (April 7) in 2006.

Superintendent Im Jong-sik of the Gyeongbuk Office of Education said, “We will continue to support students with intractable diseases until they recover their health through treatment and realize their dreams,” adding, “We will continuously expand the project so that students and parents can reduce economic burdens during the treatment process and not lose hope.”

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