Childcare system in Korea

1. Korea’s low birth rate in 2018

 Low birth rate is a severe problem in Korea. Korea’s total fertility rate fell to its lowest of 0.98 in 2018, which means an average woman gives birth to only under one baby in her whole lifetime. For comparison, the 2018 fertility rate was 1.72 in the US and 1.42 in Japan. Indeed Japan's low birth rate also causes a big concern to society. Korea’s number 0.98 is unmatched by any other country in the world. There is some debate as to whether that was due to impressive birth control policy in the 1960~1980s on the part of the government or a inevitable change of times..

2. Efforts to improve

 Of course, the Korean government has been struggling to improve this situation after the late 1990s, but in vain. Korean government has pulled together various kinds of policy packages.. Primarily, it has introduced diversified parental benefit programs imaginable. These include incentives such as a year of subsidized childcare leave both for the mother and the father, free nurseries that is literally ‘free’ for all children over three years old. Besides, government-trained and subsidized baby sitters with just small expenses(around $5 per hour, which varies according to parent’s income) are available. And cash stipends around $80 a month for every child under seven years old is provided to the parents. Actually, the government has spent several billion dollars a year recently to practice such policies and encourage people to have more babies. And those kind of incentives are unseen in most countries which have even higher birth rate. But, continuous drop of birth rate has cast a shadow of doubt over the recovery just as the government’s busy developing even bigger plan. 

3. The reason and solution

Then why do Koreans not want to have babies despite all of these benefits? They think that they are in a fiercely competitive environment where they have no rooms for raising children for decades from now on. Factors like the high cost of private education, housing, university tuition, all frustrate their intention to bear babies. If the baby grows up at the expense of all of these high prices and sacrifices of the parent’s quality of life, chances are not bright. They will also struggle to find their jobs, houses, and have a hard time to raise their own children. The awareness that the cost of raising a child outweighs the value of having one prevents childbirth.

 What should we do in this circumstance? There seems no way but to enhance the value and cut the cost. Can your children have a better life than you? Are you going to become happier than now if you have a child? Will your life get better if you become a mother or a father despite some inconveniences? We should make all those answers, “yes.” Would it cost too much to educate a child to keep up with society? Is raising a child a considerable obstacle to the acquisition of my own time and space and continuation of work? Would my company cut off me or my salary if I raise a child? We should make all those answers, “no.”

Maybe it will not be Korea’s only problem after several decades from now on. Many developed countries would have a deepening problem of parent’s hesitation for having babies. Korea is now doing their experiments, and hope they succeed so we can build a new productive,  sustainable society in the 21st century.

Published: Sep 24, 2019. Last updated: Oct 23, 2019

Healthcare system in Korea

1. Healthcare in 2020 US election

 Healthcare issue seems to become the most controversial point in 2020 US presidential election. Healthcare system in the US has been a fierce arena of political debate for decades. The main focus of this long argument has been about healthcare inequality and the danger of people who can’t afford the extremely high cost of private health insurance. US presidential candidates have hardly faced anything like the multiple high-profile challenges they must urgently deal with like the healthcare issue. It relates to people’s desperate need directly connected to each of their lives itself..

2. Korea’s health care system

 Compared to the United States, medical systems in many countries are gaining more attention to figure out a better solution to appeasing a growing complaint to the US health care system.. Among them, Korea is mentioned as one of the models of a universal healthcare system. Surely there are several pros and cons in any system, and that of Korea is no exception. Let’s look at them one by one!

Pros. 1 Cheap insurance

 The price of Korea’s medical insurance run by the government agency is reasonably low. There are two options for Koreans. One is an employer aided insurance where your company funds half of the insurance fee, in which both your company and you contribute to monthly premium equally. In that case, if your income is in the median level, your contribution to cover your whole four family members costs only around $150.

 That covers all of medical expenditures, including primary dental treatment and even severe surgery in large hospitals. The other option is called the local insurances fit for the people who are not at work or self-employed. It has the customer pay $ 200~$ 300 monthly to get the four family member’s medical insurance. And, you can easily find hospitals where you can claim the insurance within walking distance of your house.

 Meanwhile, the insurance fee in the US is exerting considerable cost on the economy of households. Insurance company is continuously wanting to raise insurance rates, and hospitals also don’t resist that kind of rising medical reward. When insurance becomes more expensive and sophisticated, only wealthy people can readily shoulder the costs needed to enjoy the full range of coverage.

Pros 2. Equality in Medical Care

 Universal healthcare insurance intrinsically extends to universal opportunities for access to medical treatment. The insurance covers most costs, and patients have to pay only a small fraction of the whole. Moreover, the treatment fee of every hospital is the same wherever you go. In addition to that, relatively less affluent consumers also can enjoy the same medical care as one of the wealthiest consumers of the country. They can enroll in the same large and well-known hospital, and they have identical possibility to be treated their diseases. Korean government even has formalized plans to increase the kinds of illnesses that can be covered by insurance and supports for treatment of serious conditions such as dementia and cancer.

Cons 1. Possibility of downward leveling of services

 But there is always yin where yang exists. Cheap and equitable medical system requires inflexible supplier policy. In Korea, it’s well known that an apprentice trying to be a doctor works murderously. They stay all the time in the hospital, eating there and sleeping in the small room right beside the patient’s room for several years. Even the doctor who has achieved his or her goal after a long training period seldom enjoy their own private life. To meet the profit in cheap price environment, he/she needs to see hundreds of patients per day every five minutes. And of course, this sometimes leads to the deterioration of the service quality and satisfaction for the consumer side as well.

Cons 2. Financial problem.

 Money is always a problem. Even though they carefully manage the insurance budget of the whole nation and medical bills of each treatment, fiscal deficits and depletion of funds are always a big concern. Are there big enough funds to care for all the people for their whole life? And how much do you have to gather from each person monthly to do this incredible job? Korean government is now elaborating this ambitious policy.

3. Future of the debate

 Medical issues will be the primary topic in the 2020 election. And that reflects how much people want the reform and are now frustrated with the current system. And debate over those issues may succeed in creating divisions among politicians in Washington as to how to deal with general people’s desire and the impending crisis in low-income vulnerabilities.

 Candidates will be torn over whether to pursue more effective policies to buoy the medical service quality like private business, or to seek more public-oriented reforms, including medicare for everyone. For example, Sen. Bernie Sanders is calling for eliminating private health insurance and replacing it with a universal Medicare plan. And former Vice President Joe Biden is calling for building on provisions of Obamacare known as the Affordable Care Act.

 There will be more possibility of a breakthrough regarding this issue if we can learn from each other!

*For reference, there was an interesting post on another blog by Lisa from Canada, quoted a little bit as below.

“http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2010/01/healthcare-system-in-korea.html?m=1”

“Since living in Korea, I’ve been amazed by the medical system here. Today I walked into an EMPTY throat specialist’s office with tonsillitis. Within 15 minutes, I was out the door with a prescription in hand for less than 3500 won [= $3.50], and on top of that, my medication cost all of 3200 won [= $3.20]! How? How does that happen? How does all the medical equipment, office space, staff, and doctors’ salaries get paid for and still charge so little to the patient? Same goes for pharmacies. In Canada and America, it insanely expensive to get medication. How do the Koreans do it? “

Sep 7, 2019