[New Year's Address] Minister Jung Eunkyung: "Strengthening Essential Healthcare with Regional Doctor System and Public Medical School"

Strengthening State Responsibility with "Integrated Care Service" from March
Reducing Medical Expenses... Building a Regionally Integrated Essential Healthcare System

Jung Eunkyung, Minister of Health and Welfare, expressed her ambition for the new year, stating, "We will build a strong welfare nation based on solid fundamentals, creating a Korea where all citizens are happy." She presented four core objectives: strengthening the state's responsibility for care, establishing a basic safety net for daily life, enhancing regional, essential, and public healthcare, and driving health and welfare innovation to prepare for the future.

Jung Eunkyung, Minister of Health and Welfare, attended the Economic Ministers' Meeting and Growth Strategy Task Force held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 31st, speaking about support for vulnerable groups during the winter season. 2025.12.31 Photo by Jo Yongjun

In her New Year's address on December 31, Minister Jung stated, "With the deepening of a super-aged society, the increasing burden of care, the emergence of new welfare demands such as social isolation, and the widening gap in healthcare between regions, it is a time that calls for a more proactive national response."

The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to fully implement the "Integrated Care Service" starting in March next year, covering healthcare, care, and housing, so that citizens can receive necessary support in their own communities. As a measure to address the low birth rate, the age eligibility for child benefits will be raised by one year annually until 2030, and medical coverage from pregnancy to childbirth will be significantly strengthened, including expanded support for fertility testing costs. In addition, daytime and after-school activity services for people with developmental disabilities will be expanded to improve the quality of life for vulnerable groups.

The ministry has also detailed policies to address welfare blind spots. Income security will be strengthened by expanding livelihood benefits, supporting National Pension contributions for low-income regional subscribers, enhancing military service and childbirth credits, and increasing job opportunities for seniors. To respond to social isolation and crises, the "Just Give Corner," which provides daily necessities without any conditions, will be expanded nationwide, and the suicide prevention system will be reinforced to enable proactive management of social crises. Minister Jung promised, "We will abolish the obligation to support for medical benefits and ease the burden of nursing care costs, thereby reducing the overall medical expenses for the public."

To enhance regional, essential, and public healthcare, a regionally integrated essential healthcare system will be established, centered around national university hospitals. Minister Jung explained, "We will innovate primary care in local communities, develop comprehensive secondary hospitals, and support tertiary general hospitals to focus on treating severe diseases, thereby building a robust regional healthcare system." To secure medical personnel, the ministry will introduce a "regional doctor system" and a "contract-based regional essential doctor system," and will also promote the establishment of a public medical school. Improvements will be made to the emergency medical transport system and legal risk mitigation for healthcare professionals, to ensure that emergency patients can receive treatment within the golden hour.

For future preparedness, the ministry will pursue health and welfare innovation. To become a global leader in biohealth, a new clinical phase 3 specialized fund will be created, investments in advanced medical device development will be expanded, and support for cosmetics exports will be strengthened. Pension reform will be actively pursued to ensure stable retirement, and the Low Birth Rate and Aging Society Committee will be reorganized as a control tower to comprehensively address population issues in response to demographic changes.

Minister Jung added, "We will promote a major transformation in health and welfare through artificial intelligence (AX), applying AI technology to emergency medical resource management and patient transport and transfer, as well as streamlining welfare benefit work processes using AI. As a ministry that protects the health and daily lives of the people, we will listen to the public, communicate actively, and create policies that bring tangible changes to everyday life."