The fee (compensation for medical services) paid by the National Health Insurance Corporation to medical institutions will rise by 1.96% next year. As a result, it is predicted that the medical expenses paid by patients will rise slightly, which may lead to an increase in health insurance premiums next year.
The National Health Insurance Corporation announced on the 1st that it had completed negotiations with seven health care organizations for a 2025 nursing care benefit cost contract and deliberated and resolved to increase next year's average fee by 1.96%.
This figure is 0.02 percentage points lower than last year. The recent increase rate was 2.29% in 2020, 1.99% in 2021, 2.09% in 2022, and 1.98% in 2023 and 2024. Next year's increase rate by type is 3.2% for dentistry, 3.6% for oriental medicine, 2.8% for pharmacies, 10.0% for midwives, and 2.7% for health institutions. The additional health insurance budget required due to this fee increase is 1.2708 trillion won.
However, negotiations between the Korean Medical Association (KMA), which represents clinics, and the Korean Hospital Association, which represents hospitals, broke down as they were unable to narrow down their differences. The increase rates presented by the National Health Insurance Corporation to these organizations were 1.9% and 1.6%, respectively.
The amount of the fee increase will be decided by the Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee by the 30th of this month and then announced by the Minister of Health and Welfare by the end of the year. The fees for clinics and hospitals where negotiations broke down are also decided by the public health committee. The National Health Insurance Corporation's Finance Committee recommended to the National Health Insurance Corporation that the increase rate not exceeded by each corporation was not exceeded.
Since the National Health Insurance Corporation pays medical providers with the insurance premiums collected from subscribers, the results of fee negotiations can affect the increase in health insurance premiums. This year’s health insurance premium rate was 7.09%, the same as last year.