▪ The government introduced four major medical reform tasks and a plan to increase medical school admissions in February 2024.
▪ The Korean Medical Association’s general strike declaration and residents’ resignations escalated tensions with the government, leading MOHW to establish the Central Response Headquarters for Collective Actions by Physicians to preserve emergency medical services.
▪ The First Implementation Plan outlines four priority tasks and implementation strategies, while emergency medical measures focus on maintaining critical and emergency patient care.
▪ MOHW plans to invest "20 trillion won + α" in health insurance over five years (2024-2028) to implement "fair compensation system" (fee-for-service; FFS normalization) and related reforms.
▪ Health insurance will provide 208.5 billion won monthly to maintain emergency medical services until the crisis level is reduced from serious, along with advance payments to training hospitals.
▪ Under the current system, health insurance finances are projected to enter a deficit by 2026, with accumulated reserves depleting by 2030.
▪ Including all investments from the First Implementation Plan and emergency medical measures, the system will enter deficit one year earlier (2025) and deplete reserves two years sooner (2028), resulting in a 32.2 trillion won cumulative deficit over ten years compared to the current system.
▪ Government financial support must be strengthened to meet healthcare policy objectives and fiscal requirements.
▪ Long-term fiscal stability requires comprehensive forecasting and efficiency improvements that account for medical reform impacts and healthcare gaps.