"Severe Imbalance in Pledges and Legislation"...Codit Publishes Issue Paper

Call for Reestablishing Policy Pledge Development and Legislative Priorities

The Global Policy Empirical Research Institute affiliated with Codit announced on the 23rd that it has published an issue paper titled "Imbalance in Legislative and Policy Responses to Major Fatal Diseases and Institutional Improvement Tasks." This paper analyzes the 21st and 22nd National Assembly, as well as legislative, general election, and presidential election pledges related to major fatal diseases.

The issue paper examines the legislative and policy pledge responses to the top seven diseases, which account for over 60% of all deaths. In particular, after a comprehensive review of bills proposed in the 21st and 22nd National Assembly and the major parties' general and presidential election pledges, the paper points out that there is a significant imbalance between the mortality or prevalence rates of diseases and the legislative and policy responses to them.

The Global Policy Empirical Research Institute affiliated with Codit announced on the 23rd that it has published an issue paper titled "Imbalance in Legislative and Policy Responses to Major Fatal Diseases and Institutional Improvement Tasks." Codit

According to the issue paper, heart disease ranked as the second leading cause of death, accounting for nearly 12% of all deaths as of 2023, yet there are no individual laws related to it, nor was it mentioned in the general or presidential election pledges of major parties. The legislative gap by disease has actually widened in the bills proposed in the 22nd National Assembly. While some bills related to cancer and dementia have been proposed, there is a complete lack of legislative discussion for key diseases in an aging society, such as heart disease and pneumonia.

The Global Policy Empirical Research Institute explained, "Since general and presidential election pledges serve as the basis for legislation and budget allocation, if a specific disease is not included in these pledges, it will inevitably be excluded from institutional support." The institute further stated, "This could lead to distortions in future health and welfare budgets and insufficient response compared to public healthcare demand. Therefore, it is necessary to develop pledges and reestablish legislative priorities based on objective health indicators such as mortality and prevalence rates."

As future institutional improvement measures, the institute suggested policy tasks such as: enacting standalone laws for major diseases like heart disease and pneumonia; supplementing explicit provisions and clarifying disease definitions in existing comprehensive laws; strengthening legislation to respond to an aging society by linking policies and budgets; institutionalizing precision diagnostic technologies; and establishing institutional mechanisms such as public hearings and advisory body participation.