COVID-19 treatment covered by insurance, patient co-payment up to 50,000 won in South Korea

The South Korean government has decided to allocate an additional 208.5 billion won (US$217 million) to emergency medical insurance for one month to prevent gaps in medical care for serious and emergency patients.
On the 26th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare held the 19th Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee, chaired by Vice Minister Park Min-soo, at the International Electronics Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and announced the following:
The Ministry of Health and Welfare established a plan to provide health insurance support for emergency medical treatment to prevent gaps in medical care for serious and emergency patients, which has been in effect since February 20.
The council passed an extension of the "emergency medical system health insurance support plan" worth 8.5 billion won. Specifically, the government will increase compensation to ensure that emergency and serious patients are quickly allocated to patients, and will provide medical care in the emergency room.
In order to ensure that hospitals can respond quickly to cases where serious patients or emergency situations arise within the hospital, policy support subsidies will be paid to specialists (trainees) when they treat serious patients or hospitalized patients.
The government also extended a plan for additional support to strengthen the medical treatment capacity of emergency medical centers. The government will temporarily provide additional support to emergency medical centers to maintain their infrastructure for treating critical and emergency patients in preparation for the mid-autumn celebration holiday.
The additional surcharge for specialist consultation fees and the additional surcharge for serious and emergency surgeries will be extended. As a result, the consultation fees for specialists at regional and specialized emergency medical centers will be increased by 2
The 50% surcharge for hospital admissions and 150% surcharge for regional emergency medical centers will remain in place. The 200% surcharge for emergency surgery and serious cases has also been extended.
COVID-19 treatment drugs, which were previously purchased and supplied by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will be covered by health insurance from October onwards.
This applies to Paxlovid and Veklury. By promoting the revision of laws and regulations along with insurance registration, patient copayments will remain at the current level of 50,000 won (approximately 5,400 yen).
In the case of Paxlobidi tablets, the maximum price is 941,940 won (approximately 102,400 yen) per pack (30 tablets), and the patient's copayment at the time of purchase will rise to 300,000 won (approximately 32,600 yen).
Because the high cost of medical treatment places a heavy burden on patients, the government is revising the Enforcement Decree of the National Health Insurance Act to lower the amount.
In addition, starting from the 1st of next month, the scope of compensation for treatment of patients with advanced ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, and primary peritoneal cancer will be expanded.
The maximum and upper limits of the medical expenses will be lowered, and health insurance will be newly applied. The average person was paying about 41 million won (about 4.45 million yen) for medicines per year, but with this new health insurance, the annual medication cost will be
"By making COVID-19 treatment drugs eligible for health insurance coverage, we will help ensure a stable supply of treatment drugs and
"We hope to maintain the current level of copayments and reduce the burden on patients through the expansion of insurance coverage for ovarian cancer drugs."