Ministry of Health and Welfare Sets for Separated Management of Health Insurance

Kim Won-Gil, Minister of Health and Welfare, remarked yesterday, ``the government will be able to prepare for the implementation of the policy, no matter it would be united or separated management, if the decision is made by December. If the decision by the National Assembly is put off till next year, we will be in trouble.`` concerning the presented health insurance bill for the separated management of the budget.

Minister Kim said to the reporters, ``the pharmacy-clinic separation policy is the essential part of the medical reformation driven by the `people`s government` however, the combined or separated management of the insurance budget can be decided according to the efficacy.``

He also emphasized that ``when the budget is separated, the government lacks justification for the support of local medical insurance only. When the budget is combined, how to impose fair insurance premium to the local insurance purchasers and to the employed insurance purchasers will be a complicated problem. And it is more urgent to establish a measure how to manage the budget of the employed medical insurance than the decision of united or separated management.``

Minister Kim ordered to his staffs at the high official meeting, ``Be prepared to act by the decision of the National Assembly.``

A high official of the Ministry pointed, ``the separated management has a problem of extra cost for the separation but the combined management is not so good considering the problems of the laborer unions.``

Meanwhile, the representatives of the Trilateral Committee held a sub committee with the absence of the government representative and adopted a draft of resolution that request for the separation of the health insurance budget as it is or simply postpone the unification of the budget management. The draft will be submitted to the Sub-committee of Economy and Society early next month.

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