ABSTRACT
Although South Korea successfully established national health insurance (NHI) in 1977, and has maintained universal coverage since 1989, it has long been criticized for insufficient benefits coverage (Cho 1989; Kwon 2009). For example, computed tomography (CT) was not covered until 1995; medications for chronic conditions (such as diabetes mellitus) were only covered for six months per year per patient until 1994 and were not fully covered until the year 2000. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to diagnose cancer and establish preoperative cancer stage was not covered until 2005, and ultrasonography is still not covered.
