User:Bojosh/Healthcare in South Korea

History
After the Korean War ended in 1953, South Korea's medical infrastructure and healthcare system needed attention. To help Korea get back on its feet, the University of Minnesota and Seoul National University launched the Minnesota Project from 1955 to 1961. This project familiarized South Korean health professionals to medical methodology and cultivated a new wave of health leaders. It also increased public knowledge of proper sanitation and organized hospitals by department. Due to the success it received, the Minnesota Project is accredited with pushing Korea's healthcare industry into what it is today.

In December of 1963, South Korea implemented their first health insurance law: the Medical Insurance Act. This allowed companies to provide voluntary health insurance to its employees. Then in 1977, the law was revised to make health insurance mandatory. President Park Chung-Hee also mandated employee medical insurance in firms of 500 or more employees and introduced the Medical Aid Program which provides medical services for low-income citizens. Insurance would then proceed to be provided for government workers in 1979 and self-employed individuals in 1981. Coverage would continue to expand, and in a mere 12 years, national health insurance (NHI) extended to the entire country, providing universal health care for all citizens.

In 2000, the National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC), also called the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), was founded to combine all health insurances into a single national health insurer. As of 2006, about 96.3% of South Korea's total population is under the National Health Insurance Program (57.7% employee insured, 38.6% self-employed insured) while the remaining 3.7% of the population is covered by the Medical Aid Program.