Heo 1 Hye-Jin Heo Instructor Dennis Wilson Economics 1010 5 December 2013 A Comparison of the National Health Insurance

system in the USA and Korea According to dictionary, National Health Insurance is health insurance that insures a national population for the costs of health care and usually is instituted as a program of healthcare reform. It is enforced by law. Funding mechanisms vary with the particular program and country. It does not equate to government run or government financed health care, but usually established by national legislation. I am from Republic of Korea. When I first came to the United States, I was surprised that Korea and United States have different policy about National Health Insurance. In my opinion, I prefer National Health Insurance of Korea. I compare the National Health Insurance in the United States and Korea about eligible persons, cost, hospital system, and national economic benefit. The first, one of the advantages of the national health insurance system in Korea, is the duty subscription system that the whole nation is universal coverage. If a person is born in Korean, everyone to participate is health insurance. It is as a compulsory social insurance, the Korean health insurance covers the whole population living in the country. In the case of workplace one or more, all employees must insure for the employee insured. If persons who are supported mainly by the employee insured and do not have other remuneration or income, they

Heo 2 must insure for dependents. On the other hand, the United States has not public medical insurance program like Korea. Each person takes up an insurance policy with their company or a private insurance company. That is why usually low-income bracket cant buy insurance. According to the survey in 2012, present situation of insurance applicants were any private plan 63.9%, employment-based 54.9%, direct-purchase 9.8%, any government plan 32.6%, Medicare 15.7%, Medicaid 16.4%, military health care 4.4%, and uninsured 15.4%. There are about 32 million uninsured people in the United States. Whole nation cant get a national health insurance, therefore they cant go to the hospital in a comfortable state of mind when they are sick or have a disease. The second, the Korean national health insurance and medical services cost is very cheaper than the United States. Insurance fees are calculated on a sliding scale according to income, but people receive equivalent health care benefits. High-income earners pay more fee than low-income earners. In some cases low-income earners dont pay fees and they can receive the benefits. This medical benefit program is a form of public assistance scheme to secure the minimum livelihood of low-income households and to assist with self-help by providing medical services. And also insurance benefits have co-payment ceiling system and co-payment reimbursement. These are Personal expense limit policy : to reduce the clients economic burden due to excessive medical expenses, the corporation covers the excess in case the legal individual payment for the patient exceeds the individual limit set by the law, Compensation for excessive excessive co-payment : when the health insurance co-payment of care benefit exceeds KRW 1,200,000 every 30 days, 50% of the excess mount is paid by the National Health Insurance, and Co-payment reimbursement : when the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service

Heo 3 confirms that co-payment in relation to the care institution services is overcharged, the excess amount is paid back to a medical beneficiary. In the United States, according to the survey Total health expenditure as a share of GDP, 2009 the USAs health expenditure 17.4% First-Highest in OECD. By the way, OECD average was 9.6%. It was much higher that the OECD average. The survey makes out a strong case for most people spend too much money for the insurance fee and medical expenses. Health care in the USA is very expensive. It is the biggest problem in the USAs health care. The third, all of the hospitals and medical care institutions in Korea accept the National Health Insurance. It means people are able to obtain medical care at any hospital near their house. Therefore, people can see a doctor whenever they are sick or have a disease without reservation even if they dont have private insurance. In the United States, people have to find the hospital where accepts their insurance and they must make a reservation to see a doctor several weeks or months later even they feel sick now. If people want to see a doctor now, they can do that but they can go to only emergency room and this is too much expensive for medical expenses. Finally, the Korean National Health Insurance brings the effect of income redistribution. That is why insurance fees are levied on a sliding scale according to income. The upper and lower classes are a fourfold difference for the insurance payment amount and double difference in benefits of wages. The upper class benefits from insurance fees against salary about 1.1 times, but the lower class benefits from about 5.5 times. As this result, it shows the National Health Insurance has an effect on income redistributive as a social insurance program. It is a healthy thing to have much benefit to lower-income group.

Heo 4 U.S. President Barack Obama benchmark the Korean National Health Insurance. It is healthcare reform that is called Obamacare. It is a big issue in the world. He started the reformation for he wants to make all Americans to beneficiaries as Korean. 25 countries of the world as well as the United States benchmark the Korean National Health Insurance. It shows this health insurance attain the world level. It covers the whole population living in the country, is reasonable cost for a fee and medical service, accepts all of the hospitals and medical care institutions, and brings the effect of income redistribution. In these points, the Korean Health Insurance is better than the USA.

Heo 5 Works Cited Wikipedia, Web. 05 Dec. 2013. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_health_insurance >. United States Census Bureau. Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage: 2012 Tables & Figures. Web. Table 8. <http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/data/incpovhlth/2012/Table8.pdf >. United States Census Bureau. Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage: 2012 Tables & Figures. Web. Table 7. <http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/data/incpovhlth/2012/Table7.pdf >. Health at a Glance 2011: OECD Indicators. Chart 2: Total health expenditure as a share of GDP, 2009 (or nearest year). < http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/49084355.pdf >. h-well National Health Insurance Service. Web. <http://www.nhis.or.kr/static/html/wbd/g/a/wbdga0101.html >.