Expansion of Catastrophic Medical Expense Support for Low-Income Groups: "Medical Expenses from 800,000 KRW for Basic Livelihood Security Recipients"

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[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] From January next year, support for catastrophic medical expenses for low-income groups will be expanded. For basic livelihood security recipients and lower-income brackets, the medical expense burden threshold will be lowered to 800,000 KRW, and for households with less than 50% of the median income, it will be reduced to 1,600,000 KRW, easing their medical expense burden.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare (Minister Park Neung-hoo) announced on the 5th that it held the Catastrophic Medical Expense Support Policy Deliberation Committee in writing from the 2nd to the 4th and prepared such measures.

At this committee, to strengthen the medical safety net for low-income groups during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided to lower the medical expense out-of-pocket threshold, relax the application deadline for support during hospitalization for basic livelihood security recipients and lower-income brackets, and provide support for costs of rare and urgent medical devices.

The catastrophic medical expense support program is a system that supports 50% of the out-of-pocket medical expenses up to 30 million KRW annually when excessive medical expenses (about 15% of annual income) occur during treatment or rehabilitation due to illness or injury, considering income and property levels.

First, the medical expense burden threshold (out-of-pocket medical expenses), which is the selection criterion for support recipients, will be lowered to further strengthen the medical safety net.

For basic livelihood security recipients and lower-income brackets, the threshold will be expanded from the original 1,000,000 KRW to over 800,000 KRW, and for households with less than 50% of the median income, from the original 2,000,000 KRW to over 1,600,000 KRW.

Also, the current deadline for applying for support during hospitalization, which requires application at least 7 days before discharge, has been relaxed to 3 days before discharge for basic livelihood security recipients and lower-income brackets. This is expected to reduce cases where the hospitalization period is less than 7 days or where patients face difficulties paying medical expenses during hospitalization because they could not apply 7 days before discharge.

Furthermore, the purchase costs of rare and urgent medical devices such as vascular stents and catheter insertion devices, which are essential for treating rare and intractable diseases but were excluded from the support scope, will now be included. Accordingly, the burden will be eased when patients with rare and intractable diseases purchase medical devices not registered under health insurance through the Korea Medical Device Safety Information Center.

Kong In-sik, Director of Medical Security Management at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the possibility of catastrophic medical expenses occurring among low-income groups, who may be greatly affected by household income changes, is increasing, raising concerns about worsening difficulties. Through the expansion of catastrophic medical expense support, including lowering the support criteria, the government will also strive to make the medical safety net more robust and reduce the medical expense burden on the public."

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