Most countries are facing aging societies caused by decreasing birth and mortality rates and an increasing longevity of life. An aging population, nuclear families, and female economic activities make caring for old people not the problem of individuals, but a social issue, to which Korea is no exception. 

In an effort to solve these woes, the National Health Insurance Corp. (NHIC) has the Long-term Care Insurance Program in place, but separate from the National Health Insurance Program. 

The Long-term Care Insurance, a policy to supply the welfare demand caused by these social changes, was introduced in July 2008, and the coverage has been expanded since this past July 1. The insurance provides support for physical and household activities to elderly people who have difficulty conducting everyday tasks due to geriatric diseases like dementia, etc.

The Ministry of Health & Welfare recently decided to freeze long-term care insurance premiums in 2013 at the current levels, and raise national health insurance premiums by 1.6 percent during next year to 5,709 won, up 90 won from the current 5,619 won for the average national health insurance premiums per household. 

The ministry plans to raise the number of long-term care service beneficiaries to 389,000 by the end of next year by lowering the long-term care approval score. The ministry’s long-term plan calls for ramping up the coverage of the Long-term Care Insurance to the 7 percent range of the nation’s total elderly population by 2017. 

The Act on Long-Term Care Insurance for Senior Citizens was passed unanimously in the National Assembly’s plenary session on April 2, 2007 and enacted on April 27, and it was implemented as of July 1, 2008. 

Based on the principle of social solidarity, the nation and society share the responsibility for long-term care & nursing services for senior citizens with Alzheimer’s disease or stroke instead of leaving the entire burden to their families. 

This system gives benefits to all generations from the elderly to the middle-aged and even the younger generation who are responsible for caring for and nursing the elderly. Senior citizens can lead decent lives through planned and professional long-term care services without being a burden to their children. Middle-aged people who have cared for the elderly for a long period of time can concentrate on economic or social activities, escaping the mental, physical, and economic burden that can come from caring for the elderly. The younger generation may have more chances for a better education and better care for families who will have less of a burden with the long-term care of their elderly relatives.

In a related development, the medical costs for treating those aged 65 and older accounts for one-third of the nation’s total medical expenses, according to data made available by the KHIC and the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA). 

The 2011 health insurance statistical yearbook, jointly published by the NHIS and HIRA indicated that national health insurance reimbursements amounted to 46.2379 trillion won. Of that, 15.3893 trillion won, or 33.3 percent of the total, was used for treating people aged 65 and older. 

The medical costs for the elderly are on a constant rise with the nation’s portion rising from 22.9 percent in 2004 to 25.9 percent in 2006, 30.8 percent in 2008 and 32.4 percent in 2010. The medical costs for the elderly had surpassed the 10 percent mark in the 1990s, but the portion for last year slowed to an 8.9 percent rise due to the economic slump in Korea, KHIS officials said. 

The medical costs for the elderly increased to 2,968,000 won per head last year, up 4.5 percent over a year earlier, which is over three times more than the overall per-capita medical costs standing at 947,000 won. The overall per capita medical costs doubled last year over 2004, whereas the per capital medical costs for the elderly tripled during the same period, indicating a surge in medical costs centering around the elderly in recent years. 

The publication showed that each insured person was hospitalized for an average of 2.2 days and visited hospitals as outpatients for 16.6 days annually. 

Meanwhile, the number of cancer patients with serious conditions was tallied at 246,057. The cumulative number of cancer patients totaled 1,093,959 and their combined medical costs fetched to as much as 3.9666 trillion won.