The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) spent 3.7089 trillion won in health insurance funds to respond to the standoff between the government and doctors, according to an analysis. Critics point out that as funds meant to subsidize public medical expenses were diverted to the government's medical reform costs, the capacity to support patient care is actually shrinking.
In its recent "FY2025 Settlement Analysis" report, the National Assembly Budget Office said 3.7089 trillion won in health insurance funds was spent on operating the emergency medical system prompted by the government-doctor standoff. In detail, 2.2245 trillion won went to emergency medical care support and 1.4844 trillion won to advance payments for teaching hospitals.
Adding support for restructuring tertiary general hospitals (2.1685 trillion won) and essential medical care support measures (2.7389 trillion won), the total health insurance funds invested in medical reform and emergency care reaches 8.6163 trillion won.
The problem is that health insurance financial capacity has shrunk in the process. The Budget Office analyzed that the health insurance current-account surplus fell from 4.1276 trillion won in 2023 to 1.7244 trillion won in 2024 and 499.6 billion won in 2025. Its balance worsened as health insurance funds were used to finance government policy.
Health insurance funds are public resources formed from premiums that subscribers pay mandatorily, government treasury support, and the National Health Promotion Fund. Under the law, the government is required to provide 14 percent of expected premium revenue from the treasury and 6 percent from the National Health Promotion Fund, for a total of about 20 percent. However, the actual government support rate in 2025 stood at just 14.4 percent.
The Budget Office pointed out that even the statutory level of government support is not being sufficiently provided, while health insurance funds are also bearing the costs of government policies such as responding to the doctor standoff and medical reform. "Even though health insurance is a public resource of about 100 trillion won a year, it is operated through an accounting method rather than as a fund, so its financial management plan and settlement are finalized with only MOHW approval, without going through the National Assembly's budget and settlement review," an official at the National Assembly Budget Office said. "It is necessary to expand the state's share of the burden and to establish a financial management system, including converting it into a fund, to strengthen external controls."
