In Korea, patients with cancer and other rare and serious diseases pay only 5-10 percent of the total medical costs for five years from the first day of the diagnosis under the national health insurance program.

However, even after the five-year period ends, cancer patients should be allowed to pay less medical expenses when medical checkups are for follow-up examinations only, a lawmaker said in a proposed revision bill. 

Rep. Kim Kyo-heung of the Democratic Party of Korea has proposed a bill to revise the National Health Insurance Act to reduce cancer patients’ co-payment proportion in medical costs for follow-up exams. 

Under the current law, subscribers of national health insurance and their dependents pay a portion of the cost of medical treatment when they receive medical benefits. For cancer patients facing the burden of high medical costs, the health insurance system lowers the co-payment rate to 5 percent for outpatient medical treatment, hospitalization, the use of expensive medical equipment such as CT, MRI, and PET-CT, and medicines for five years.

"Cancer has a high risk of recurrence even after surgery or treatment, so continuous observation and follow-up are essential, but many patients complain of financial burden due to the high cost of expensive tests such as CT and MRI,” Kim said.

“If they do not receive follow-up checks due to the burden of medical expenses, they may not be able to detect the recurrence of cancer early and their health may deteriorate, so support is needed."