(Health Korea News / Yu Ji-in) The Korean medical community expressed strong discontent regarding the government’s discrimination against oriental medicine, such as applying non-covered medical expense insurance only to medicine. This was at a press conference for a health and medical journal held by the Korean Medical Association on the 23rd.
According to the Korean Medical Association, after the standard terms and conditions were established in October 2009, non-covered medical expenses for Korean medicine treatment were excluded from actual loss insurance, and even with the introduction of the 4th generation actual loss insurance in July 2021, non-covered Korean medicine was excluded from special coverage. The Korean Medical Association’s position is that it is unfair that Korean medicine does not cover non-covered medical expenses while medical treatment covers non-covered medical expenses.
At the meeting that day, Korean Medical Association Chairman Yoon Seong-chan claimed, “Due to the deprivation of the people’s right to choose medical care, the imbalance in the medical market has deepened, and Oriental medicine treatments with clear treatment purposes have been excluded from coverage, leading to excessive treatment in Western medicine and moral hazard, which has led to an accumulation of continuous deficits in actual medical insurance.”
Chairman Yoon said, “We must guarantee the people’s right to choose treatment and ease their medical expenses by covering non-covered treatments of Oriental medicine with actual loss insurance, and we must eliminate the unfair medical market caused by monopolies and the distortion of medical services such as excessive non-covered treatments,” adding, “It is also essential to cover Oriental medicine doctors’ use of diagnostic equipment.”
Chairman Yoon explained, “The use of five types of medical devices recognized by the Constitutional Court, including blood and urine testers, ultrasound diagnostic devices, in vitro diagnostic kits, and tonometry devices, and electroencephalographs, is legal according to the authoritative interpretation of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the court’s ruling.” However, it is currently far from being possible to apply health insurance benefits to Korean medicine doctors’ use of diagnostic devices. The association claims that there are inherent socioeconomic controversies, such as the fairness of applying health insurance differently depending on the health care profession and medical institution for similar medical practices in oriental and western medicine.
Chairman Yoon said, “In order to effectively respond to the threat of a medical vacuum caused by repeated doctor’s strikes, it is essential to reimburse Oriental medicine doctors for their use of diagnostic equipment,” and emphasized, “By reimbursement of Oriental medicine doctors’ use of diagnostic equipment, we should contribute to alleviating the inconvenience of citizens having to visit medical institutions twice and reducing medical expenses.”
Chairman Yoon also expressed his position that the pilot project for primary care oriental medicine visits should be improved.
Since August 2021, the ‘Oriental Medicine Home Visit Consultation Service’ has been provided for patients with mobility difficulties. Chairman Yoon argued, “Even though it is the same pilot project, Western medicine allows 100 home visits per month, but Oriental medicine home visits are limited to 60 per month.” He added, “This creates an issue of fairness in that Oriental medicine, which actively participates in the pilot project, is discriminated against due to differences in calculation criteria according to medical type.”
In addition, they expressed dissatisfaction with the exclusion of oriental medicine from the dementia management physician pilot project scheduled for the second half of 2024. Chairman Yoon criticized, “Despite the oriental medicine community’s continuous declaration of participation in the dementia management physician pilot project, they announced a policy of only participating in Western medicine,” and “despite the fact that local governments have promoted oriental medicine dementia management projects and have shown results in research and clinical results, and that the role of oriental medicine doctors in dementia is stipulated in laws and systems, they have been excluded from the pilot project.”
Accordingly, in preparation for the super-aging society, it is necessary for Korean medicine, which has a high satisfaction rate (86.2% satisfaction), to participate in community health promotion (dementia management project) services to meet the demand and improve health awareness and quality of life according to the accessibility and satisfaction of Korean medicine among the elderly, explained Chairman Yoon.
Chairman Yoon then said, “Oriental medicine doctors should participate as doctors specializing in the health of the disabled.”
According to the Korean Medical Association, the government has been ‘only reviewing’ since the pilot project for primary care physicians for the disabled began in May 2018, despite the continued participation of the Korean medical community. This is also in conflict with the results of the government’s research on the health management of the disabled through Korean medicine. According to the results of the research, 92.3% of the disabled people who participated in the survey responded that a primary care physician system for the disabled was necessary. 96% of Korean medicine doctors also hoped to participate in primary care physicians for the disabled.
Chairman Yoon said, “In the third stage pilot project for the disabled primary care physician system implemented only in Western medicine, only 0.5% of the disabled participated and only 72 primary care physicians were active,” and emphasized, “We must strengthen the disabled’s right to choose medical care and promote their health by having both providers (Oriental medicine doctors) and users (disabled people) want the participation of Oriental medicine doctors as primary care physicians for the disabled.”
Finally, Chairman Yoon argued that Korean medicine doctors should participate in pilot projects for managing chronic diseases in primary care.
According to the Korean Medical Association, the government excluded Korean medicine from the pilot project for managing chronic diseases in primary care in January 2019. Most of the Korean medicine community is comprised of primary care institutions, and they are the most closely related to the project, but they were excluded.
Chairman Yoon said, “Although the Oriental medicine community has been promoting and completing research on a model for Oriental medicine chronic disease management in consultation with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Oriental medicine community has not been able to participate in the pilot project for primary care chronic disease management even after five years.” He added, “We should participate in the pilot project for Oriental medicine, which has strengths in chronic disease treatment, to guarantee the people’s right to choose medical care and promote health.”
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