Korean medicine doctors are intensifying their opposition ahead of the implementation of revised enforcement rules for the Automobile Damage Compensation Guarantee Act, which will require separate screening for minor auto accident patients seeking hospitalization beyond eight weeks.
The Korean Medicine Association (KMA) staged one-person protests outside the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the National Assembly on Tuesday, demanding "immediate withdrawal of the subordinate legislation amendments to the Automobile Damage Compensation Guarantee Act that seek to limit treatment periods for traffic accident victims to eight weeks."
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to implement the revised enforcement rules of the Automobile Damage Compensation Guarantee Act from April 1 to prevent auto insurance fraud. Under the so-called "8-week rule," traffic accident victims classified under injury grades 12 to 14 will require separate screening to receive treatment beyond eight weeks. The key provision involves assessing treatment appropriateness through deliberation by institutions designated under the Act.
Korean medicine doctors Jung Hee-won, Heo Yun, Hong Seung-ki, and Yoo Tae-mo, who participated in Tuesday's protests, condemned the measure, stating that "the 'treatment restriction beyond 8 weeks' for patients with injury grades 12-14 is an administrative convenience-oriented idea that practically infringes on traffic accident victims' right to receive medical treatment without any medical basis."
They argued that requiring accident victims to obtain and submit additional documentation from medical institutions to prove the necessity of treatment beyond eight weeks is itself unreasonable, and could leave patients in anxiety over potential treatment interruption while awaiting review and deliberation results. They also criticized limiting the rule's application to patients with injury grades 12 to 14, arguing it could pressure patients into abandoning treatment by branding them as "potential fraudulent claimants."
A KMA official emphasized, "This amendment is based on distrust of attending physicians' medical judgment and distorted statistics from the insurance industry," adding that "it should be immediately withdrawn to protect traffic accident victims' legitimate right to treatment and medical professionals' inherent expertise."