The results of the Board of Audit and Inspection's (BAI) audit of the National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC) show you how the people's distrust of the NHIC was not baseless disbelief.
The BAI notes three main problems: the reckless management of the organization, the loss of finances as a result of poor management of expenditures for things like pharmaceuticals, and a failure by the corporation to carry out its function in the area of social security because of excessively heavy cost burdens for individual participants. All three eat away at what the NHIC is supposed to be doing in the first place.
The organization's loose management needs to be criticized for the way things were divided up in various giveaways. The work of dealing with the public is something that can be done through computerization and other forms of communication, and still the NHIC built branch offices in every city, county, and city subdistrict. The organization is structurally deformed for having 68 percent of its employees being high-ranking people who are Grade 4 civil servants or above. Even without this the high cost of the insurance program has the people suffering. NHIC needs to engage in truly excruciating restructuring and by doing so return the money it saves back to the people in the form of expanded benefits. The audit also found reason to suspect that in setting the cost of medical services and pharmaceuticals the NHIC came under the influence of pressure or bribery by pharmaceutical companies. That is something that absolutely must be cleared up, since it means it has been making up for financial losses by emptying the people's pockets.
As of the end of 2003, the NHIC's accumulated deficit was as much as W1.5 trillion. And total cost of treatment as paid by individuals last year was 43.6 percent, unreasonably higher than Germany, Japan, and France, where the percentage paid by individuals was 9 percent, 12 percent, and 27 percent respectively. There is a desperate need for more solid finances and lesser burdens for subscribers, but the way NHIC is currently operated that would take forever.
Medical services are not simply a "cost," they are a productive investment in labor and efficiency for economic development. That is why medical insurance performs an important role. Korea is standing at the threshold of becoming an advanced nation, and the only social insurance we have to show for that is health insurance. We hope to see the NHIC reborn as an organization loved and trusted by the people as a result of the BAI's audit.
The Hankyoreh, 27January 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] NHIC Needs Major Surgery |
