The number of insurance claims related to drug addiction claims has increased by 15.4 percent over the past five years.

The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) has released the analysis of the latest five-year trend of drug and drug addiction treatment from 2019 to 2023 on World Anti-Drug Day.

According to the HIRA report, while the number of patients increased by 1.4 percent (annual average growth rate of 0.3 percent) during the period, medical expenses increased by 17.8 percent (annual average growth rate of 4.2 percent), with men showing a higher increase rate than women.

The number of claims in 2023 was 17,645, an increase of 15.4 percent from 2019, with a medical fee of 355,679 won ($255) per claim and total medical expenses of 6.27 billion won.

The number of male patients increased from 2,617 in 2019 to 2,738 in 2023, an increase of 4.6 percent (annual average growth rate of 1.1 percent) over five years, and the annual medical expenses increased by 20.8 percent (annual average growth rate of 4.8 percent) from 2.14 billion won to 2.58 billion won.

The number of female patients decreased by 0.8 percent (annual average decrease rate of 0.2 percent) from 3,891 in 2019 to 3,861 in 2023, while their annual medical expenses increased by 15.9 percent (annual average growth rate of 3.8 percent) from 3.18 billion won to 3.68 billion won.

The breakdown of drug addiction claims by disease in 2023 was 41.1 percent for mental and behavioral disorders caused by the use of multiple drugs and other psychoactive substances, and 29.8 percent for mental and behavioral disorders caused by the use of sedatives or sleeping pills.

The analysis of the trend of drug addiction treatment over the past five years showed that the number of patients decreased by 0.7 percent (annual average decrease rate of 0.2 percent), while the cost of treatment increased by 42.1 percent (annual average growth rate of 9.2 percent), with 21,509 claims in 2023, marking a cost of 1.28 million won per claim and a total cost of 27.72 billion won.

The number of male patients decreased by 9.2 percent (annual average decrease rate of 2.4 percent) from 5,731 in 2019 to 5,201 in 2023, while the yearly total medical expenses increased by 37.5 percent (annual average growth rate of 8.3 percent) from 7.38 billion won to 10.15 billion won.

The number of female patients increased by 3.9 percent (annual average growth rate of 1.0 percent) from 10,832 in 2019 to 11,254 in 2023, while the yearly total medical expenses increased by 44.9 percent (annual average growth rate of 9.7 percent) from 12.12 billion won to 17.57 billion won.

According to the breakdown of drug addiction-related claims in 2023, poisoning by diuretics and other unspecified drugs, drugs, and biological substances accounted for 41.0 percent, followed by poisoning by antiepileptic, sedative-sleeping, and antiparkinsonian drugs at 28.6 percent.

"We hope that through this report, the public can recognize drugs and medicines correctly and prevent misuse of psychotropic medicines prescribed for insomnia, dieting, and ADHD by consulting with experts," said Ham Myung-il, director of the Review and Assessment Policy Research Institute.