"Korean Healthcare Could Face Bankruptcy in 10 Years"... A Prescription Proposed by Patients and Doctors Together

Medical Joint Action Publishes "Redrawing Korean Healthcare in Crisis, Together"

Seeking Solutions for Coexistence: From "Emergency Room Ping-Pong" to "Caregiving Bankruptcy"

Proposals for Sustainable Healthcare: "Value-Based Care" and "Stat

Patients and medical professionals, as key stakeholders in the healthcare system, have come together to diagnose the various structural issues facing Korean healthcare and to seek practical alternatives that go beyond blame and confrontation.

'Healthcare Consumers-Providers Joint Action for Building a Better Healthcare System' (Medical Joint Action), a coalition of civic groups and medical experts, announced on the 5th that it has published a new book titled "Redrawing Korean Healthcare in Crisis Together," which contains innovative solutions to help design the future of healthcare in Korea.

This book is not just a policy report but a practical guide written by 29 individuals—including representatives from consumer groups such as Green Consumer Network and Korea YWCA Federation, as well as doctors, nurses, physical therapists, patients, and lawyers—based on the "wounds" they have experienced in their own positions. Medical professionals who participated include Professor Kang Heekyung (Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine), Professor Oh Juhwan (International Health Policy), Professor Oh Seungwon (Family Medicine), and Professor Ha Eunjin (Critical Care Medicine).

The authors define the current state of Korean healthcare as a "critically ill patient that has lost even the ability to heal itself." While Korean healthcare boasts world-class accessibility, they analyze that chronic problems lurk beneath the surface, including the side effects of the fee-for-service system, the collapse of essential medical services, and an aging population.

They warn that if the current system is left unaddressed, in 10 years, South Korea will face a near "medical bankruptcy," with healthcare expenditures doubling as a share of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). The despair of patients wandering in search of emergency care, and the exhaustion of healthcare workers overwhelmed by excessive workloads, are not isolated phenomena but early warning signs of systemic collapse. The authors further emphasize that healthcare reform must begin not with greater sacrifice, but with responsible choices by the state and social consensus.

They point out that even if critically ill patients receive successful acute care, their household finances and quality of life often deteriorate dramatically after discharge. To address this, they propose building infrastructure for a "state-responsible convalescent hospital" (tentative name), which would make the state responsible not only for survival but also for post-treatment life and recovery.

Regarding the recent social issue of "emergency room ping-pong," they classify the crisis not as a result of individual medical personnel rejecting patients, but as a "structural system failure" that fails to guarantee the entire process from the occurrence of a patient to final treatment. They also advocate for the legal exclusion of the evidentiary power of communication and apologies, so that a doctor's sincere apology after a medical accident is not used as evidence of legal fault.

As a solution to the era of aging, they propose a "community-based primary care physician system." Rather than simply lowering the threshold for hospital visits, they suggest transitioning to a "registration-based primary care system" so that citizens do not need to make new decisions every time a health issue arises. This, they argue, would reduce the progression of diseases and preventable hospitalizations, while also transforming the quality of healthcare utilization.

The authors also criticize the reality in which indemnity insurance and non-covered treatments distort the national health insurance system and encourage social waste. They emphasize that non-covered items such as manual therapy or non-covered injections, which are outside of current controls, should be included within the reimbursement system through adequacy assessments and managed accordingly. This is a concrete roadmap for creating a country where "health insurance alone is sufficient."

Additionally, the authors point out the limitations of the fee-for-service system and argue that healthcare resources should be allocated not simply based on the volume of services provided, but centered on "social value and patient health outcomes." They reason that creating an environment where healthcare professionals are not burned out by excessive labor, yet are able to provide the best possible care, directly contributes to securing the public's right to health.

Cho Eunyoung, co-representative of Medical Joint Action and president of the Korea YWCA Federation, emphasized, "Healthcare is not a market commodity, but a public system that realizes the right to health guaranteed by the Constitution," and added, "All of us, as sovereign citizens, have a responsibility to take an interest in the healthcare system, ensure that the finances we contribute to healthcare are well managed and implemented, and make sure that we can properly access the services we need."

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