U.S. Wants to Learn from Korea

Minister Jeon leads experts on health insurance gathering hosted by Rand Corp. in Washington

Minister Jeon Jae-hee of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs attended a seminar held July 16 at the Senate Visitor Center in Capitol Hill in Washington on the subject of "Korea's Experience in building Public Health Insurance systems for Universal Coverage: Effective Care in Universal Coverage, an unattainable goal? sponsored by Rand Corp., a think tank in the United States.
Rand Corp. has set up the seminar to learn Korea's experience for setting up and running the medical insurance system as the U.S. government plans to overhaul the U.S. health insurance system as urged by President Barak Obama and apply successful phases of Korea's medical insurance system as it is practiced in Korea in revising the U.S. health insurance system.














About 50 U.S. experts on health insurance policies and 20 from Korea attended the Korea-U.S. event. Deputy Representative of Rand Corp. Michael Rich delivered a welcoming speech and Minister Jeon made a speech to thank the U.S. side for inviting Korean health insurance experts to the seminar.
Minister Jeon said she is very appreciative for the fact that Korea for the first time learned the Western medical system from U.S. missionary doctors who worked in Korea at the latter part of the Joseon Dynasty and following the Korean War(1950-1953), the U.S. again made a great contribution to the development of the medical system in Korea through such projects as the Minnesota Project.
She said she agreed with the U.S. government's intention to amend its medical health system to the extent that it would improve the health and the quality of life for the American people, not just for treatment of the illnesses and guarantee the accessibility of the medial health insurance system to all the people.
In explaining the better points of the Korean medical health insurance system, the minister said the government first introduced the system in 1977 and in 12 years since then, the system was able to cover the entire population in 1989. Since then, she said, demand for medical check ups and others exploded due to the increased accessibility for the medical health insurance system, which led to the huge improvement in both medical facilities and technologies. In 2000, the medical and health insurance was integrated into one system for improvement in management and effectiveness which led to an unprecedented improvement in public health through more frequent medical check ups and better medical expenditures.
The minister hoped that the medical health insurance system being undertaken by the U.S. government will be a great success so that all American people will enjoy top medical services by lowering medical expenses and strengthen the rights for choosing medical treatment for the people, proposing that Korea and the United States share cooperation in medical issues including rising medical expenses due to aging and tasks in the medical and health area.
The minister met with Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius and signed an MOU on health and medicine pledging closer cooperation between Korea and the U.S. especially on pandemic influenza, emergencies in public health and vaccination activities.
She also tried to pave the way for expansion in exports to the U.S. of Korean generic drugs as their exports amounted to only $60 million in 2007 although the U.S. generic drug market was $33 billion in 2008 and $78 billion worldwide.
Jeon also called on the National Institute of Health and met with Director Ray Kington and discussed cooperation in such issues as Swine Flu vaccination and medical treatment for tuberculosis. She also laid a wreath at the Korean War Memorial in Washington on July 16. She also traveled to New York to attend the road show on July 16 staged by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute to attract foreign patients to Korean medical facilities in Korea, which was held in San Francisco on July 18. She also participated in an investment strategy session on how the national pension fund will be invested in Korea and abroad held at Morgan Stanley building in New York on July 17.
Minister Jeon also called on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the U.N. headquarters in New York and discussed such issues as the way to improve the visas issuance to aid patients and the admission of the national pension fund to UN PRI (principles for responsible investment). nw

Minister Jeon reads a note at a seminar on the Korean health insurance held at the Senate Visitor Center in Washington July 16.

(From Left) Minister Jeon delivers a speech July 16 at the Senate Visitor Center on the subject of "Korea's Experience in building Public Health Insurance system for Universal Coverage: Effective Care for Universal Coverage, an unattainable goal?" at a seminar sponsored by Rand Corp. in the United States. Minister Jeon speaks at a gathering of medical personnel from the Korean community in New York. Minister Jeon delivers her speech at a meeting held at Hilton Hotel by the Korean medical mission to the United States to woo U.S. patients to come to Korea for medical treatment in New York July 16.

Minister Jeon shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius after signing an MOU on cooperation between their countries on public health and medicine, including pandemic influenza in Washington July 16. Photo on courtesy of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs.