After a Traffic Accident, More Visits to 'Hanuiwon'... Auto Insurance Medical Expenses Double in 4 Years

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Car Insurance Medical Expenses. [Data from Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Last year, the medical expenses for Korean medicine in automobile insurance due to traffic accidents surpassed those for Western medicine for the first time.

According to the '2021 Automobile Insurance Medical Expense Statistics' recently released by the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service on the 21st, the medical expenses for Korean medicine last year amounted to 1.3066 trillion KRW, exceeding those for Western medicine (1.0787 trillion KRW). Compared to four years ago in 2017 (554.5 billion KRW), the medical expenses for Korean medicine more than doubled.

Among the total 20,841 automobile insurance claim institutions, Korean medicine hospitals and clinics accounted for 12,371 institutions (59.3%). This is higher than the proportion of Korean medicine hospitals and clinics (15,005 institutions, 21.0%) among all medical institutions (71,230 institutions) as of the end of last year.

The increase in the number of patients at Korean medicine hospitals and clinics by year is also notable. The number of patients at Korean medicine hospitals rose from 265,048 in 2017 to 469,754 in 2019, and 602,654 last year. Similarly, Korean medicine clinics saw a sharp increase from 594,244 in 2017 to 860,082 in 2019, and 894,098 last year. In contrast, general hospitals decreased from 444,343 in 2017 to 292,094 last year, and general hospital-level institutions also declined from 553,781 to 420,458 during the same period.

This indicates a significant rise in the number of people visiting Korean medicine hospitals and clinics after suffering traffic accident injuries. However, the medical community points out that the issue of treatment imbalance is becoming increasingly serious. The Korean Medical Association criticized, "The fairness issue in reviews between professions encourages Western medicine to avoid treating automobile insurance patients, which will result in harm to severely injured traffic accident patients who need Western medical treatment," adding, "Excessive medical expense waste leads to insurance premium increases, ultimately resulting in damage to public health and the economy."

The Korean Medical Association urged the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to promptly resolve the fairness issue between Western medicine and Korean medicine regarding automobile insurance review standards, and called for measures such as introducing a prepaid system for outpatient treatment fees and separating the automobile insurance medical treatment system.