Health Care Reform: The Price of Medicine is Cut by 14% on Average

2012-04-03 이은총 기자

Health Care Reform: The Price of Medicine is Cut by 14% on AverageBy Eun-Chong LeeSince April 2012, the price of medicine on the Health Insurance list will be reduced in price by 14% on average. This discount has been instituted to stabilize the price index for medicines covered by the national Health Insurance plan. The discount will be applied to 6,506 prescriptions, 47% of the total 13,814 covered items. Due to the decrease in the cost of medicine the premium also can be reduced. It will reduce this fiscal year’s national expenditure for Health Insurance by 1.7 trillion won, which will lighten the people's burden. Experts predict that it will have a positive impact on our country. Korean medicine and health insurance expenditures are 1.6 times higher than the average of OECD countries. However, Korean pharmacists who expect this new policy to have a negative impact on profits worry that the decrease in revenue will make it difficult to develop new medicines domestically.