Health care in South Korea

By law, everyone of Korean nationality living in Korea is in National Health Insurance, as a member or a dependant, unless they receive medical aid. 51,439,246 people were in it at the end of 2024, and 1,559,922 had medical aid.

The National Health Insurance Act, Article 5, read in Korean and in the Korea Legislation Research Institute's English. Foreigners living in Korea are covered under rules of their own (Article 109).

The counts are the 2024 yearbook's, two of its tables: 52,999,168 people with public cover, 51,439,246 in the insurance (97.1 in 100) and 1,559,922 with medical aid (2.9 in 100). The shares are Dooram's sums.

Sources: 국가법령정보센터 (National Law Information Center), Ministry of Government Legislation, 국민건강보험법 (법률 제21522호, 시행 2026. 10. 8.) (the National Health Insurance Act, as in force on 8 October 2026, with the Korea Legislation Research Institute's English translation as the second reading), Art. 5 para. 1, read 20 October 2026. 국민건강보험공단 (National Health Insurance Service) and 건강보험심사평가원 (Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service), 2024 건강보험통계연보 (National Health Insurance Statistical Yearbook) (the 2024 National Health Insurance Statistical Yearbook, published November 2025), Tables I-2 and I-3, 2024, read 20 October 2026.

Current spending on health, public and private, without investment in buildings and equipment, as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), the value of everything the country produces in a year, by the count of the World Health Organization (WHO), made with each country's own data: 8.57% for South Korea in 2023, rounded here to one decimal. 2023 is the newest year the WHO has for every country on the dial, so every figure it is set against is the same year and the same count.

On the dial, "typical" means between the lowest quarter and the highest quarter of the 10 countries Dooram covers: from 8.8% to 11.6% of GDP. "Less than most" is below that, "more than most" above it.

Read on 21 October 2026 in the WHO's Global Health Observatory and again in the World Bank's copy of the same series; the two give the same figure for every country.

The health ministry's own count is 8.5% of GDP for 2024 (the next card), a year the WHO's database does not yet have for every country.

Sources: World Health Organization, Global Health Expenditure Database, through its Global Health Observatory and the World Bank's World Development Indicators, Global Health Expenditure Database, current health expenditure as a share of gross domestic product (GHED_CHEGDP_SHA2011), 2023 (the World Health Organization's health accounts, every country's share of its economy spent on health, 2023), GHED_CHEGDP_SHA2011; the World Bank's SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS, read 21 October 2026. 보건복지부, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 기대수명 83.7년으로 역대 최고, 우리나라 보건의료 수준 양호 (보도자료, 2026. 7. 23.) (the health ministry's release of 23 July 2026 on OECD Health Statistics and Korea's health accounts for 2024), read 20 October 2026.

8.5% of the economy went on health in 2024, about 216 trillion won (about $159 billion). About 6 in 10 of it was paid through government and the compulsory insurance, 129.4 trillion won ($94.9 billion).

Current spending on health, public and private, on the international System of Health Accounts. The health ministry's release gives 8.5% of the economy, as do the OECD's accounts (8.46). For the total, the ministry's own accounts give 216.6 trillion won and the OECD's 216,350 billion, 0.1% apart, so the page says about 216 trillion. Through government and compulsory insurance: 129.4 trillion in both, 59.7 in 100 in the ministry's and 59.8 in the OECD's.

How much households paid themselves is not on this page yet: the OECD gives a share that Dooram has read in only one place.

Dollars are converted by Dooram at the 2024 average rate of 1,363.375 won to $1 (World Bank; the Federal Reserve gives 1,363.4381).

Sources: 보건복지부, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 기대수명 83.7년으로 역대 최고, 우리나라 보건의료 수준 양호 (보도자료, 2026. 7. 23.) (the health ministry's release of 23 July 2026 on OECD Health Statistics and Korea's health accounts for 2024), read 20 October 2026. OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), Health expenditure and financing (DSD_SHA@DF_SHA), Korea, 2024 (the OECD's health accounts for Korea, read as the second reading of the ministry's totals), current expenditure on health, all financing schemes and government and compulsory schemes, 2024, read 20 October 2026. World Bank, World Development Indicators, from the International Monetary Fund, Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average), PA.NUS.FCRF, read 20 October 2026. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.5A Foreign Exchange Rates (Annual), read 20 October 2026.

An employee's contribution is 7.19% of pay in 2026, paid half by the employee and half by the employer: 3.595% each. The self-employed pay on their income and their property, by household.

The rate is in the decree, Article 44: 719 ten-thousandths, the same for employees and the self-employed; the insurer's English page gives 7.19% for 2026. The act caps it at 8% (Article 73). For civil servants the State pays the employer's half; private school teachers pay half, their school 30 in 100 and the State 20.

The self-employed pay on their income at the same rate, plus points for their property at 211.5 won a point (the decree, Article 44, and the act, Article 69). Long-term care insurance is charged on top.

Sources: 국가법령정보센터 (National Law Information Center), Ministry of Government Legislation, 국민건강보험법 (법률 제21522호, 시행 2026. 10. 8.) (the National Health Insurance Act, as in force on 8 October 2026, with the Korea Legislation Research Institute's English translation as the second reading), Arts. 69, 73 and 76, read 20 October 2026. 국가법령정보센터 (National Law Information Center), Ministry of Government Legislation, 국민건강보험법 시행령 (대통령령 제36675호, 시행 2026. 10. 1.), 별표 2 and 별표 3 (the Enforcement Decree of the National Health Insurance Act, as in force on 1 October 2026, with its schedules of co-payments and of the yearly ceiling), Art. 44, read 20 October 2026. 국민건강보험공단, the National Health Insurance Service, Contributions (National Health Insurance Service, English site) (the insurer's English page on contributions, 2026), read 20 October 2026.

In 2024 the insurance received $8.92 billion (12.17 trillion won) from the government, beside $61.70 billion (84.12 trillion won) of contributions. Members and employers paid 87.4 in 100 of the two together.

“국가는 매년 예산의 범위에서 해당 연도 보험료 예상 수입액의 100분의 14에 상당하는 금액을 국고에서 공단에 지원한다.”

In English, Dooram's translation: “Each year, within the budget, the State gives the Service from the Treasury an amount equal to 14 in 100 of that year's expected contribution income.”

The act's rule runs to the end of 2027. What was paid in 2024 was 12.2 in 100 of the contributions received from the Treasury, Dooram's sum; the law's 14 is of the income expected.

Source: 국가법령정보센터 (National Law Information Center), Ministry of Government Legislation, 국민건강보험법 (법률 제21522호, 시행 2026. 10. 8.) (the National Health Insurance Act, as in force on 8 October 2026, with the Korea Legislation Research Institute's English translation as the second reading), Art. 108-2 para. 1, read 20 October 2026.

The yearbook's settled accounts, two tables: contributions 84,124.8 billion won, the Treasury 10,263.6 billion and the tobacco surcharge 1,902.2 billion, which add to the 96,290.6 billion the accounts print. The insurance paid out 96,455.9 billion won ($70.75 billion) in benefits that year. Dollars at 1,363.375 won to $1, the 2024 average.

Sources: 국민건강보험공단 (National Health Insurance Service) and 건강보험심사평가원 (Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service), 2024 건강보험통계연보 (National Health Insurance Statistical Yearbook) (the 2024 National Health Insurance Statistical Yearbook, published November 2025), Tables II-1 and II-7, 2024, read 20 October 2026. World Bank, World Development Indicators, from the International Monetary Fund, Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average), PA.NUS.FCRF, read 20 October 2026.

Of the $64.24 billion (87.58 trillion won) the insurance paid for care given in 2024, outpatient care took 42.2%, hospital stays 37.8% and medicines from pharmacies 20.0%.

The yearbook's spending on covered care by the date the care was given, in two of its tables, which agree. The covered cost was 116.24 trillion won ($85.26 billion); the insurance paid 75.3 in 100 of it and patients the rest (81.6 in 100 of a hospital stay, 71.6 of outpatient care, 72.8 of pharmacy medicines). Care the insurance does not cover is not in these figures.

How the whole country's spending on health divides by kind of care is not on this page yet: Dooram has read it in only one place.

Sources: 국민건강보험공단 (National Health Insurance Service) and 건강보험심사평가원 (Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service), 2024 건강보험통계연보 (National Health Insurance Statistical Yearbook) (the 2024 National Health Insurance Statistical Yearbook, published November 2025), Tables III-2 and III-4, 2024, read 20 October 2026. World Bank, World Development Indicators, from the International Monetary Fund, Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average), PA.NUS.FCRF, read 20 October 2026.

At a clinic you pay 30% of the covered bill; at a hospital 40%, at a general hospital 50%, and at a tertiary hospital 60% plus the consultation fee. A stay in hospital costs you 20%. People with cancer on the insurer's list of serious illnesses pay 5%.

The decree's schedule of co-payments, 별표 2, as amended on 19 February 2026, read again in the insurer's English page. In towns and villages a general hospital is 45% and a hospital 35%. Meals in hospital are half paid by the patient. The 5% for people on the list of serious illnesses, cancer among them, is the decree's; the insurer's page names cancer.

These are shares of care the insurance covers. Care it does not cover is paid in full.

Sources: 국가법령정보센터 (National Law Information Center), Ministry of Government Legislation, 국민건강보험법 (법률 제21522호, 시행 2026. 10. 8.) (the National Health Insurance Act, as in force on 8 October 2026, with the Korea Legislation Research Institute's English translation as the second reading), Art. 44 para. 1, read 20 October 2026. 국가법령정보센터 (National Law Information Center), Ministry of Government Legislation, 국민건강보험법 시행령 (대통령령 제36675호, 시행 2026. 10. 1.), 별표 2 and 별표 3 (the Enforcement Decree of the National Health Insurance Act, as in force on 1 October 2026, with its schedules of co-payments and of the yearly ceiling), 별표 2, read 20 October 2026. 국민건강보험공단, the National Health Insurance Service, Insurance Benefits (National Health Insurance Service, English site) (the insurer's English page on benefits, co-payments and the yearly ceiling, 2026), read 20 October 2026.

Yes, by income. In 2026 a person's co-payments for covered care stop at 900,000 won a year (about $633) for those who pay the lowest contributions, rising to 8,430,000 won (about $5,926) for the highest. The insurer pays the rest. Care the insurance does not cover never counts.

The insurer's English page gives the 2026 amounts by tenths of contributions; Dooram worked them out again from the decree's schedule, 별표 3, which gives the 2024 amounts and raises them each year by the change in prices. They agree. For more than 120 days a year in a long-term care hospital the ceilings are higher, 1,430,000 to 10,960,000 won.

Not counted towards it: care the insurance does not cover, two- and three-bed rooms, dentures and implants, and some others the decree lists. Dollars are about, at the 2025 average rate of 1,422.44 won to $1 (World Bank; the Federal Reserve 1,421.40), since 2026 has no yearly rate yet.

Sources: 국가법령정보센터 (National Law Information Center), Ministry of Government Legislation, 국민건강보험법 (법률 제21522호, 시행 2026. 10. 8.) (the National Health Insurance Act, as in force on 8 October 2026, with the Korea Legislation Research Institute's English translation as the second reading), Art. 44 paras. 2 and 4, read 20 October 2026. 국가법령정보센터 (National Law Information Center), Ministry of Government Legislation, 국민건강보험법 시행령 (대통령령 제36675호, 시행 2026. 10. 1.), 별표 2 and 별표 3 (the Enforcement Decree of the National Health Insurance Act, as in force on 1 October 2026, with its schedules of co-payments and of the yearly ceiling), Art. 19 and 별표 3, read 20 October 2026. 국민건강보험공단, the National Health Insurance Service, Insurance Benefits (National Health Insurance Service, English site) (the insurer's English page on benefits, co-payments and the yearly ceiling, 2026), read 20 October 2026. World Bank, World Development Indicators, from the International Monetary Fund, Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average), PA.NUS.FCRF, read 20 October 2026. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.5A Foreign Exchange Rates (Annual), read 20 October 2026.

1,559,922 people with medical aid are outside the insurance, but covered by medical aid instead. The insurer may stop paying for people who fall behind on their contributions, and for their dependants, until they pay. Some foreigners cannot join, and care the insurance does not cover is paid in full.

People of distinguished service under the State's own medical care, unless they ask to join (Article 5). Foreigners whose stay breaks the law in the cases the decree names, or who have equal cover and ask to be left out (Article 109). For self-employed foreigners in arrears, benefits are always withheld.

Source: 국가법령정보센터 (National Law Information Center), Ministry of Government Legislation, 국민건강보험법 (법률 제21522호, 시행 2026. 10. 8.) (the National Health Insurance Act, as in force on 8 October 2026, with the Korea Legislation Research Institute's English translation as the second reading), Arts. 5, 53 para. 3 and 109, read 20 October 2026.

The count of people with medical aid is the yearbook's, two of its tables. How many people have benefits withheld for arrears, and how many residents have no cover at all, Dooram has not read.

Source: 국민건강보험공단 (National Health Insurance Service) and 건강보험심사평가원 (Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service), 2024 건강보험통계연보 (National Health Insurance Statistical Yearbook) (the 2024 National Health Insurance Statistical Yearbook, published November 2025), Tables I-2 and I-3, 2024, read 20 October 2026.