ABSTRACT
The proliferation of private-sector healthcare services is mainly attributed to the government's laissez-faire policy toward healthcare and to the establishment of the National Health Insurance (NHI) system in South Korea. In response to increased demand for healthcare, the coverage of benefits in the NHI has been expanded. Partly because of insufficient insurance reserves and partly to reduce unnecessary service utilization, a cost-sharing scheme exists whereby all patients are required to pay for part of the costs of the health services they receive. The predominant way of paying providers through the NHI is fee-for-service reimbursement. Although the NHI has operated under a single-payer corporation since July 2000, the methods of calculating contributions differ for self-employed individuals and employees, and the management of reserve funds remains separate among these two categories of the insured. Few mechanisms for funding long-term care are well developed in South Korea: private long-term care facilities or services and tax-funded public long-term care facilities or services.
