(Health Korea News / Chang-Yong Lee) As of 2023, the population covered by Korea’s health insurance was confirmed to be 51.45 million, an increase of 0.08% compared to the previous year (51.41 million).
The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service and the National Insurance Corporation published the ‘2023 Health Insurance Statistics Yearbook’ containing this information on the 29th. According to the annual report, the total number of people covered by health insurance in Korea as of last year was 51.45 million. Among these, the number of employer subscribers was 36.37 million, a decrease of 0.7% from the previous year, and the number of local subscribers was 15.09 million, a 2.1% increase from the previous year.
In 2023, workplace insurance premiums increased by 8.5% to KRW 72.367 trillion compared to 2022 (KRW 66.6845 trillion), and regional insurance premiums decreased by 3.5% compared to the previous year (KRW 10.0858 trillion) to KRW 9.7366 trillion.
Last year, the number of medical institutions totaled 101,762, including 77,055 medical and health institutions and 22,704 pharmacies. This is an increase of 1.36% compared to the previous year. Among medical and health institutions, the institutions that accounted for the largest proportion were clinics, with a total of 35,717 (46.4%). This was followed by dentistry (19,271 places, 25%) and oriental medicine (15,151 places, 19.7%).
478,353 people working in medical institutions
Accounts for 56.33% of the total nurse workforce
During the same period, the number of nursing facility personnel was 478,353, an increase of 4.23% compared to the previous year. The number of people working in medical and public health institutions was 443,149, accounting for 92.6% of the total workforce in medical institutions. It was found that 35,204 people (7.4%) work in pharmacies.
The occupation with the largest increase in manpower was nurses. As of the end of 2023, the number of nurses was 269,434, an increase of 5.98% compared to 2022. This proportion of nurses accounts for 56.33% of the total workforce in nursing institutions.
During the same period, the number of pharmacists and oriental pharmacists increased by 2.66% to 42,722, the number of doctors increased by 2.12% to 114,699, the number of dentists increased by 1.45% to 28,392, and the number of oriental doctors increased by 1.31% to 23,106.
Health insurance medical expenses in 2023 are KRW 110.8029 trillion, an increase of 4.7% compared to the previous year (KRW 105.8586 trillion). Among these, salary costs amounted to 83.0925 trillion won, accounting for 75% of total medical expenses. The average monthly medical cost per person was 179,601 won, an increase of 4.6% compared to the previous year (171,636 won).
Medical expenses for the elderly (age 65 or older) amounted to KRW 48.9011 trillion, an increase of 6.9% compared to the previous year (KRW 45.7647 trillion). Medical expenses for the elderly population of 9.22 million, which is 17.9% of the total population covered by health insurance, accounted for 44.1% of the total medical expenses.
Both the number of deliveries and delivery facilities are decreasing.
The number of deliveries, an indicator of the birth rate, was 230,510 as of 2023, a 6.52% decrease from the previous year (246,579). The number of childbirth institutions also decreased by 1.27% to 468 compared to the previous year (474). This shows the seriousness of the decline in birth rate.
As of 2023, chronic diseases accounted for the largest proportion with 7.47 million people being treated for high blood pressure. This is a 2.6% increase compared to the previous year (7.28 million). The second most common chronic disease was arthritis, with 5.29 million people receiving treatment. This is a 2.9% increase compared to the previous year (5.14 million people). The number of people with behavioral disorders was 4.15 million, an increase of 4.1% compared to the previous year (3.98 million).
There are also chronic diseases for which the number of patients receiving treatment has decreased. The number of patients treated for liver disease was 1,933, a 1.0% decrease from the previous year (1,954), and the number of patients with respiratory tuberculosis was 29, a decrease of 1 (4.1%) from the previous year (30).
In 2023, the number of people who received treatment as a special case for calculating serious diseases was 2.73 million. Cancer disease was followed by 1.44 million people, rare incurable disease was 1.05 million people, and heart disease was 110,000 people.
Meanwhile, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service and the National Health Insurance Corporation have been jointly publishing the ‘Health Insurance Statistics Yearbook’, which contains key statistics related to health insurance, for the 20th year this year. The statistical yearbook consists of a total of six parts, including general health insurance status, financial status, medical treatment status, review performance, medical care benefit adequacy evaluation, and disease statistics.
‘2023 Health Insurance Statistics Yearbook’ will be published on the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service website starting from the 29th.click) and National Health Insurance Corporation website (click) and can be viewed at Statistics Korea’s National Statistics Portal System KOSIS (click) is also planning to register and provide data.
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