Tired of prolonged conflict, 45% of Koreans call for revising or delaying healthcare reform: survey

Most Koreans expressed fatigue with the year-long conflict between the government and the medical community.

Nearly half of the public believed the government's healthcare reform plan should be revised or put on hold, citing the prolonged government-doctor conflict. Still, they also thought it has become difficult to stop the medical school enrollment quota increase for 2025.

On Tuesday, Seoul National University Graduate School of Public Health released the “Survey on Public Perceptions of Healthcare Reform Policies.” The school commissioned Hankook Research to conduct the opinion poll, which surveyed 1,000 adults over five days from Dec. 20 to 24.

According to the survey, 69.0 percent of the respondents believed that the current government-doctor conflict is “a clash that could have been prevented,” and 45.4 percent thought that “the healthcare reform bill should be modified or postponed,” considering the prolonged conflict. Among others, 37.7 percent said healthcare reform should continue, and 9.9 percent called for nullifying or annulling” the reform plan.

Among those who thought the conflict could have been prevented, 61.9 percent agreed that the conflict was caused by the government's failure to “develop realistic measures to ensure the credibility of the policy and foster cooperation among key stakeholders,” and 39.6 percent agreed that the government failed to “secure an expert and transparent policy rationale in advance.

Seven out of 10 Koreans said they feel “stressed or tired” due to the government-doctor conflict, and 88 percent believe the prolonged conflict has had a “negative impact” on them. More than half (57.5 percent) said the government still does not communicate effectively with the public about policies and conflicts.

Nevertheless, 57.7 percent of survey participants believe that the number of doctors in the country is insufficient, compared to 26.9 percent who believe it is sufficient and 6.5 percent who thought the number of doctors was “more than optimal.”

Among those who thought the number of doctors was insufficient, 53 percent said that the two primary policies—adjusting and improving the medical fees for different medical specialties and increasing the number of doctors—are both necessary. The other 30.2 percent believe that other policies are needed rather than increasing the number of doctors, with another 30.2 percent saying, “We need a policy to increase the number of doctors.”

Regarding the government's first proposal to increase the number of medical school students by 2,000, 29 percent of respondents disagreed with both the timing and the size of the increase, 27.2 percent agreed with both the timing and the size, and 18.8 percent agreed with only the size of the increase.

Still, 46.4 percent believed it is “not feasible” to suspend medical school recruitment or reverse the increase for the class of 2025, compared to 28.8 percent who thought it was possible.

Also, 53.3 percent of respondents believed that President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived martial law imposed on Dec. 3 would exacerbate the government-doctor conflict. Some 8.6 percent thought it would not, and 31.2 percent said it would have no impact.

Asked about the political turmoil’s impact, 44.7 percent said that the martial law imposition and its aftermath will adversely affect healthcare reform and medical student increase, 19.7 percent said it would help to push such policies, and 35.6 percent said it would be “neither an opportunity nor a crisis.” The reasons cited for unfavorable impact included “declining government trust and weakening policy momentum” and “lack of communication and consultation.”

Trust in the government was 27.9 percent, higher than that in physician organizations, which stood at 17.0 percent.

“The overwhelming majority of respondents believe that the conflict could have been prevented in advance and that the conflict occurred due to a lack of stakeholder policy trust and cooperation,” said Professor Yoo Myung-soon, who conducted the survey. “Neither the government nor the doctors’ group have given the impression that they put people first. The public demands that the government and physician organizations try to restore their trust.”