Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, Public Funds Wasted on Self-Praising Advertisements

HIRA Advertising Expenses Surge 12-Fold in 5 Years
Hundreds of Millions Spent on One-Month Olympic TV Ads
Next Month, 130 Billion Won for Training Center Construction Amid 'Wasteful Management'

In a situation where the National Health Insurance (NHI) finances are being urgently mobilized to resolve the medical crisis, it has been revealed that the health insurance premiums paid by the public are being squandered on unnecessary advertising expenses by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA).

HIRA is a quasi-governmental organization that evaluates whether the patient medical fees claimed by medical institutions to the National Health Insurance Corporation are appropriate. It is a massive organization with about 4,000 employees and an annual operating budget of around 500 billion KRW, more than 80% of which is funded by the National Health Insurance finances. Due to the nature of its work, the general public rarely interacts directly with HIRA.

Part of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service promotional video.

According to Asia Economy's investigation on the 8th, HIRA's expenditure on 'advertisement production and broadcasting project costs' surged more than 12 times in five years, from 330 million KRW in 2019 to over 4.1 billion KRW this year.

According to HIRA's audit reports, the amount spent on advertising and publicity was 3 billion KRW in 2019, 4.6 billion KRW in both 2020 and 2021, and exceeded 4.1 billion KRW in 2022 and last year. The 'Comprehensive Advertising Production Service Request for Proposal' posted by HIRA on the national comprehensive electronic procurement system, Nara Market, shows that the budget for TV and radio advertisements and online advertisement production sharply increased from 300 million KRW in 2019 to 1.9 billion KRW in 2020, 1.7 billion KRW in 2021, 2 billion KRW in 2022, and 3.1 billion KRW in 2023.

This year, HIRA allocated 4.132 billion KRW for the production and broadcasting of one TV commercial (30 seconds), one radio commercial (40 seconds), two types of print advertisements, and two online viral advertisements. Additionally, HIRA separately allocated 400 million KRW for social media management services and another 400 million KRW for YouTube video production. This means that at least 5 billion KRW will be spent on advertising and publicity this year.

During the Paris Olympics, which opened on the 26th of last month, HIRA spent several hundred million KRW on advertisements aired on the three major terrestrial broadcasters. An advertisement featuring HIRA’s characters 'Hito' and 'Todangi' singing and saying, "Medical review and assessment is done by HIRA," is broadcast for a month before and after the Olympic coverage. Besides this, HIRA has been airing long-term radio advertisements for institutional promotion. To upbeat music, the ad says, "Stop worrying about medical issues. All medical care by your side, Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service." There is also an advertisement featuring HIRA President Kang Jung-gu himself, stating, "Reducing the burden of medical expenses on the public and improving the quality of care is only possible through HIRA’s review and assessment."

HIRA’s official YouTube channel hosts numerous posts mimicking entertainment programs, including segments where famous YouTubers are invited to play games with HIRA employees, a corner where netizens vote to select HIRA’s promotional models, and web dramas set against the backdrop of HIRA.

The increase in HIRA’s advertising expenses began during the tenure of former President Kim Sun-min (currently a proportional representative member of the National Assembly) and has continued under the current President Kang Jung-gu. A HIRA official stated, "As public interest in HIRA’s services to the nation has increased every year, we judged that active promotion was necessary," adding, "To maximize advertising effects in a short period, we broadcast advertisements during the Olympics, which attract significant public attention." HIRA also aired institutional advertisements during the 2022 Qatar World Cup broadcasts. The official added, "According to the Government Advertising Act, the Korea Press Foundation handles the agency work, so the timing and channels of broadcasting are determined by the Press Foundation, and the advertising costs cannot be disclosed."

There are many criticisms that HIRA’s advertising is a waste of budget. A public institution publicity expert said, "It is questionable what public interest effect HIRA’s advertisements produce," adding, "HIRA, which should prevent the leakage of health insurance premiums paid by the public, is wasting those premiums." It is also analyzed that HIRA, which received a C grade in the 2021 public institution management performance evaluation, is focusing on institutional advertisements to improve evaluation grades in areas such as public service improvement and customer satisfaction surveys.

There have been continuous calls for HIRA to be merged with the National Health Insurance Corporation. HIRA’s organization is considered bloated, and some of its review tasks overlap with the functions of the NHI Corporation, causing significant functional and role duplication between the two institutions. During the public institution restructuring review process early in the current government’s term in 2022, the integration of the NHI Corporation and HIRA was a major topic of discussion.

The healthcare sector views HIRA’s continued increase in advertising and promotion as an attempt to soften such criticisms and prevent the push for integration with the NHI Corporation. The advertising service proposal confirmed by Asia Economy includes an internal goal stating, "To reinterpret difficult institutional tasks from the public’s perspective in an easy-to-understand way, thereby justifying the institution’s existence to viewers." In other words, HIRA is using the health insurance premiums collected from the public to sustain its own institutional existence.

Meanwhile, HIRA plans to invest 136 billion KRW next month to begin construction of an education training center in Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon Province. HIRA explains that the facility is intended to systematically train thousands of employees to enhance their expertise. However, following the construction of HIRA’s first and second office buildings in Wonju in 2015 and 2019, which cost 140 billion KRW and 150 billion KRW respectively, the additional budget of over 100 billion KRW for the training center has drawn criticism for 'wasteful management.'

Ha Seung-su, co-representative of the civic group Taxpayers' Watchdog, said, "Given HIRA’s institutional nature, there is no special issue requiring public promotion, so using advertising budgets for vague and broad promotion is a waste of public health insurance finances." He added, "Budgets should be prioritized and spent according to necessity, and HIRA must be able to explain whether spending tens of billions of won on institutional promotion is appropriate."