(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Nov. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Wednesday that the car insurance medical charge criteria will be revised, effective from next week, towards limiting the scope of eligibility for exceptional cases where victims of traffic accidents can use private or semi-private rooms at all kinds of medical institutions to higher-than-hospital level medical institutions.
In principle, victims of traffic accidents should use general wards, but in some unavoidable circumstances, including a shortage of general wards or special treatment needs, they are exceptionally allowed to use either private or semi-private rooms.
The hospitalization fee, regardless of the type of ward, is fully covered by the individual’s insurance company.
This exceptional rule, however, has caused a side effect, with small clinics increasing the number of private or semi-private rooms on offer, and demanding expensive hospitalization fees.
The payment of hospitalization fees for upper-grade wards has been on an upward trend, rising from 1.5 billion won (US$1.09 million) in 2016 to 11 billion won in 2020 and 34.3 billion won in 2021.
The government said that the revision is aimed at preventing inefficiencies in auto insurance payments, reflecting the original purpose of the medical law that stipulates that hospital operations are based on treatment for hospitalized patients, and clinic operations are based on outpatient treatment.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
