President Kim Yong-ik of the National Health Insurance Service(NHIS). (Photos: NHIS)

President Kim Yong-ik of the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) called for early preparations to deal with any unseen crises involving the health service’s operation to ensure continuous growth. He thanked the officers and staff for their support, especially the union, after his arrival at the health service to take charge as head of the health organization on Jan. 2,, 2018.

In his New Year’s statement issued Jan. 2, he outlined a number of tasks that the health service has to take charge of this year:

First, the health service will have to continue to take charge of national projects as defined by the Moon administration, including “Moon care,” and making a strategy to deal with Alzheimer’s disease a state priority.

Second, he said the NHIS will straighten out the language of the National Health Insurance Law that can be easily misunderstood and will also change regulations for the closure of illegal medical clinics and pharmacies being run with “borrowed licenses” by strengthening the rights of special police officers.

“We need the support of the regional head offices and branches to ensure that the regulations are strictly enforced,” the president said.

Third, the health service should be prepared to cope with a new evaluation system, which is different from the case-by-case system the NHIS is used to.

Fourth, the Law on Long-term Convalescence for Senior Citizens has been in force for 10 years, with its value recognized by people around the country. But it still has many areas in need of improvement, and the health service will be more concerned and try to improve the law for the sake of the senior citizens.

Fifth, the NHIS needs to clear up the conflicting points between the Law for Long-term Convalescence for Senior Citizens and the Health Insurance Law, as the community care can be successful when the two laws are enforced complimentary to each other.

“Lastly, we will work for the welfare of the retired employees of the health service by finding them jobs and others for their lives after retirement from the service,” he said.

Last year, the NHIS finished consultations on the new personnel system. From this year, various opinions will be collected for more substantial progress. “We are looking for the ways to find them something to do after their retirement,” he said.

The health service completed its work on the realignment of its organization and personnel system as of Jan. 1 this year for the reason to get itself going on the work to set up a welfare system for the retired employees.

National health insurance (NHI) – sometimes called statutory health insurance (SHI) – is a system of health insurance that insures a national population against the costs of health care. It may be administered by the public sector, the private sector, or a combination of both.

Funding mechanisms vary with the particular program and country. National or Statutory health insurance does not equate to government-run or government-financed health care, but is usually established by national legislation.

In some countries, such as Australia's Medicare system, the UK's National Health Service, and the South Korea’s National Health Insurance Corporation contributions to the system are made via general taxation and therefore are not optional even though use of the health system it finances is.

In practice, most people paying for NHI will join it. Where the NHI involves a choice of multiple insurance funds, the rates of contributions may vary and the person has to choose which insurance fund to belong to.

National healthcare insurance programs differ both in how the money is collected, and in how the services are provided. In countries such as Canada, payment is made by the government directly from tax revenue. The collection is administered by government. This is known in the United States as single-payer health care.

The provision of services may be through either publicly or privately-owned health care providers. In France a similar system of compulsory contributions is made, but the collection is administered by non-profit organizations set up for the purpose.

A view of the NHIS headquarters in Wonju, Gangwon Province where NHIS has offices.