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In 2023, the total health expenditure in South Korea accounted for approximately 8.47 percent of South Korea's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This was a slight decrease from the previous year's share. Overall, this share indicates that as the GDP grew, health spending grew at an even faster rate. Korea's GDP per capita was estimated to have dropped to around 32.3 thousand U.S. dollars in 2022, an increase from around 19 thousand dollars in 2009. Meanwhile, overall medical expenditure in 2021 increased by around 7.5 percent compared to the previous year, up to around 93.5 trillion South Korean won. Nearly 60 percent of the costs were covered by the government or the public health insurance system.

Higher health spending is still insufficient

Even though the country has been an OECD member since 1996, health spending as a share of the GDP stayed below the OECD average of 8.8 percent until 2021. Similarly, the government’s health expenses lay at around 60 percent, showing a slight increase from the previous year, but this was still lower than the OECD average of almost 74 percent. The increased expenditure was largely attributed to the introduction of what is dubbed “Moon Jae-In Care”, named after the former Korean president, much like the American Affordable Care Act is colloquially known as “Obamacare”. In short, the government will provide greatly expanded coverage for medical treatments and care, increasing the reimbursement rate of the public health insurance, along with other measures. In addition, the Korean population as a whole is rapidly aging, and more people than before are being hospitalized and receiving examinations. Koreans already see doctors far more frequently than any other OECD nationals.

Strains on health spending and insurance

The Korean national public health insurance system enjoyed seven years of surplus revenue since 2011 but fell into the red in 2018. As noted above, Moon Jae-In Care and the aging population are largely responsible. The years’ worth of revenue is projected to run out in the coming years. Foreigners who come to Korea as medical tourists make things worse, with an all-time high of over 497 thousand medical tourists visiting Korea in 2019, though this has dropped off since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic began.