All My Hard-Earned Retirement Savings Go to Medical Bills... Senior Health Insurance Expenses Exceed 50 Trillion Won

Health Insurance Statistics Yearbook
39% Increase Over the Past Five Years

With the increase in the elderly population, last year’s health insurance medical expenses for people aged 65 and older exceeded 50 trillion won. Medical expenses for seniors have increased 1.4 times over the past five years.

According to the "2024 Health Insurance Statistics Yearbook" jointly published by the National Health Insurance Service and the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service on November 28, total health insurance medical expenses last year amounted to 116.2375 trillion won. This represents a 4.9% increase compared to 2023. Medical expenses refer to the sum of payments made by health insurance to medical institutions and out-of-pocket payments by patients, and do not include non-reimbursed medical expenses that are not covered by health insurance.

Last year, medical expenses for 9.71 million people aged 65 and older totaled 52.1935 trillion won, accounting for 44.9% of the total medical expenses. People aged 65 and older made up 18.9% of the total population covered by health insurance. The average annual medical expense per senior was 5,508,000 won, which is about 2.4 times higher than the overall average annual medical expense per person of 2,261,000 won. Compared to 2020, when senior medical expenses were 37.6135 trillion won, this represents a 38.8% increase over the past five years.

Last year, total insurance premiums assessed amounted to 84.1248 trillion won, a 2.5% increase from the previous year. Workplace insurance premiums accounted for 74.6196 trillion won, while regional insurance premiums were 9.5052 trillion won. The average monthly insurance premium per household was 134,124 won. For workplace subscribers, the premium was 159,184 won, and for regional subscribers, it was 82,186 won. The annual insurance premium per person was 1,636,130 won, while the annual benefit payment per person was 1,875,956 won.

As of the end of last year, there were 103,308 healthcare institutions, including hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies, a 1.5% increase from the previous year. During the same period, the number of healthcare personnel, including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, increased by 2.0% to 487,994.

The number of childbirths last year was 236,926, a 2.8% increase from 230,510 in the previous year. In contrast, the number of childbirth institutions decreased by 23 (4.9%), from 468 to 445.

The actual number of people who received treatment for chronic diseases last year was 22.94 million. The most common conditions were hypertension (7.62 million), joint diseases (7.44 million), and mental and behavioral disorders (4.32 million). The number of patients eligible for special calculation for severe diseases was 2.82 million, including 1.5 million cancer patients, 1.1 million with rare and intractable diseases, and 110,000 with heart diseases.