"60% Say 'Won't Buy Herbal Medicine If They Have to Pay Directly'"
Cause of Sharp Increase in Oriental Medicine Treatment Fees in Car Insurance
"Herbal Medicine Should Be Prescribed According to Patient's Progress"
Herbal Medicine Image
[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] It has been revealed that among four consumers who received herbal medicine prescriptions at Korean medicine clinics due to traffic accidents, three either discarded or neglected the medicine without taking it. Additionally, 60% of respondents said they would not purchase the herbal medicine if they had to pay for it themselves.
The civic group Consumer Together announced on the 1st that a survey conducted to understand consumer perceptions related to Korean medicine treatment (herbal medicine prescriptions) following car accidents showed these results.
The survey included a total of 1,012 people: 505 consumers aged 19 and older who had received Korean medicine treatment and herbal medicine prescriptions due to traffic accidents within the past two years, and 507 general consumers.
Among respondents who were prescribed herbal medicine, only 25.8% said they took all of the prescribed medicine.
The reasons for not taking all the prescribed herbal medicine were "too bothersome" at 28.6% (multiple responses allowed), "doubt about its effectiveness" at 22.3%, "lack of trust in herbal medicine (concerns about side effects, etc.)" at 21.0%, and "too much medicine" at 9.6%, in that order.
The amount of herbal medicine prescribed in decoction form was most commonly for 10 days or more, accounting for 54.2%. Among respondents, 39.7% said the amount prescribed per single prescription was "too much." When asked what they considered an appropriate duration per prescription, "3 to 4 days" was the most common answer at 25.3%.
Regarding how effective they thought the herbal medicine was for treatment, 36.4% responded "not effective," and 30.4% said it was "average."
Notably, 60.5% of respondents said they would not receive herbal medicine prescriptions if the cost was not covered by the insurance company and they had to pay out of pocket.
A representative from Consumer Together stated, "Unlike health insurance, the fee standards for automobile insurance are determined and announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the detailed standards are insufficient. This has led to excessive Korean medicine treatments being one cause of increased Korean medicine treatment costs. It is necessary to improve the initial prescription amount of herbal medicine provided through automobile insurance by monitoring the patient's progress and prescribing according to medication principles for about 3, 5, or 7 days, adjusting as needed."
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