South Korea: Hikes in premiums in reimbursement-backed private medical insurance to be capped
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Nov 2018
South Korea’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), and the health ministry have said that limits will be placed next year on increases in premiums in reimbursement-backed private medical insurance (also called indemnity insurance).
The move is part of a broader effort by the state-run health insurance programme to provide more benefits to ordinary people, and to ease the financial burden on low-income people, reports Yonhap News Agency.
The decision came as the government plans to spend KRW30.6trn ($27bn) by 2022 to allow the state-run health insurance scheme to expand the type and number of treatments it covers.
For indemnity insurance that has been sold since April 2017, premiums are likely to fall by 6.15% next year, according to the FSC. For such products sold since September 2009, however, premiums are likely to rise by 6-12% because their loss rates are rising, the FSC said.
Insurers have been required to limit premium hikes to 25% of their indemnity insurance since early this year.
Under the government’s plan, all medical treatments will be covered by the state insurance programme in the future, except for treatment that is clearly not included, such as plastic surgery, officials said. A