In early June, I visited Bahrain, dubbed “the Pearl of the Persian Gulf.” I, as chairman Yang Seung-jo of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, participated in an event to mark the official launch of a cooperative project to reform Bahrain’s national health insurance system. A deal the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service of Korea (HIRA) signed with the Bahrain government last March calls for the implementing of a project to build an ICT infrastructure on the fundamentals of the operation of a health insurance system, including HIRA’s pharmaceutical product management, health insurance information, and the utilization of medical information for two years.
It takes on significance since the project is the first case of transferring a health insurance management system of one country to another country.
In general, a national health insurance management system is developed in accordance with each country’s cultural, economic and social conditions on its own.
Korea has developed its own health insurance system since 1977. In this regard, the Bahrain government has chosen to take its cue from Korea to reform its health insurance system. The project is proof of the excellent national health insurance system that Korea has developed and cultivated.
As it comes to the operation of a health insurance system, Korea has nurtured a global unprecedented success that combines such medical expertise as the reviewing of medical charges and the evaluating of medical service quality management and state-of-the-art ICT. Here is the reason that hundreds of experts from around the world, including those from advanced countries, tour the HIRA every year. The purpose of their visit here is to find solutions for universal healthcare coverage for people of their own country. For them, Korea is sure to be the subject of benchmarking. Korea is a nation which has achieved brilliant compacted economic growth in a short period of time after overcoming hardships from the ashes of the Korean War. The nation has also created a national health insurance system in only 40 years from nothing.
Korea has so far followed the ques of advanced countries before introducing its own regimes and systems, then exporting hybrid imitations to make achievements. The transferring of the Korean health insurance management system to Bahrain shows the system is advancing, both internally and externally. Korea is establishing itself as a first mover in which foreign countries learn Korean regimes and systems by going a step forward, from the exporting of world-class home appliances. This is sure to be a thing of envy for others. The most import task is to make the Bahrain project a success.
This project will serve as a foothold for the Korean health insurance management system to make its way to six nearby Gulf countries and establish itself as a global standard.
In 2015, the United Nations included universal healthcare coverage as one of its Sustainable Development Goals.
It cannot be emphasized enough that the project will serve as a driving force behind hallyu (Korea Wave), which is all the rage in the medical service sector of late.
The Korean health insurance system also has lots of tasks to be addressed in the years to come. One of the current government’s public pledges is changing uninsured benefits into insured ones and holding the state responsible for treating those suffering from dementia to brace for an aging society.
In this regard, I expect the exportation of the Korean health insurance management system to Bahrain to serve as an opportunity to reexamine it on its own, and further it into one that will bring more benefits to people.
The event of launching the project took place at night since it coincided with Ramadan. Reflecting the magnitude of the project, many notables from the Bahrain side, including the deputy premier, the state health committee chairman, and the health minister participated in the occasion. I feel that the Korean health insurance system, marking the 40th anniversary this year, receives a great gift from Bahrain.
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