Medical tourists in South Korea in 2022, by country of origin
Why is Korea so popular?
South Korea is a popular destination for medical tourism, being one of the leading countries for inbound medical tourism worldwide. One reason is that Korea has modern and advanced medical facilities and staff. Korea also has a reputation for superior cosmetic surgeries and high-quality beauty products. Many foreigners visit Korea for cosmetic surgeries, and even more foreigners purchase Korean beauty products. In addition, many treatments are covered by the public health insurance system. This means even foreigners can receive treatment at low cost. For example, many Americans forego medical treatment because they cannot pay tens of thousands of U.S. dollars in fees. Unsurprisingly, Americans made up the largest share of medical tourists to Korea in 2022.
Korean public health insurance in the red
A problem with medical tourists is they put strain onto the Korean public health insurance system. For years, there were claims that insurance payments were too low compared to the medical expenses. Public health insurance has been in the black since 2011, but this was because the average employer-insured employee paid twice as much as they actually benefited from. The average monthly payment was around 113 thousand South Korean won (95 U.S. dollars), and the total revenue of the national health insurance in South Korea amounted to around 81.7 trillion South Korean won. Hundreds of thousands of foreigners are exacerbating the situation and the government is taking action. For example, foreigners living in Korea for more than six months are now required to register for public health insurance. Prior to 2019, registration was optional for foreigners and as a result, foreigners took advantage of insurance coverage without paying for it.