In March last year, out-of-pocket (not covered by health insurance) medical expenses at domestic medical institutions were tallied at more than 2.101 trillion won. Annualized, last year's out-of-pocket medical expenses are estimated to have exceeded 25 trillion won.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Health Insurance Service on the 29th released an analysis of data from the "first-half 2025 out-of-pocket reporting system." They collected and tallied medical expenses by receiving reports on 1,251 out-of-pocket items from all medical institutions. For the first half (March), reports are taken from all medical institutions, including clinics, and for the second half (September), from hospitals.
The aggregates of out-of-pocket medical expenses in March last year totaled 2.1019 trillion won, up 11% from the same period a year earlier. By type of medical institution, dental clinics accounted for 771.2 billion won (37%), the largest share. Clinics accounted for 500.6 billion won (24%), hospitals 302.2 billion won (14%), Korean medicine clinics 143.7 billion won (7%), and general hospitals 139.6 billion won (6.6%).
By field, medicine ranked first with 1.1045 trillion won (53%). Dentistry accounted for 838.8 billion won (40%), and Korean medicine 158.6 billion won (8%). In the medical field, manual therapy (121.3 billion won) topped out-of-pocket expenses, followed by extracorporeal shock wave therapy (75.3 billion won) and single-occupancy rooms in higher-grade wards (59.5 billion won). In dentistry, implants (316 billion won) were the highest, and in Korean medicine, decocted herbal preparations and herbal medicinal products (139 billion won) saw the most out-of-pocket expenses.
The ministry plans to manage certain overused out-of-pocket items by converting them into managed benefits. In December last year, the ministry selected three items—manual therapy, percutaneous epidural neuroplasty, and radiative hyperthermia therapy—as targets for managed benefits.
Related information on out-of-pocket medical expenses can be found on the National Health Insurance Service "Out-of-Pocket Information Portal." A ministry official said, "We will strengthen oversight of excessive out-of-pocket charges that burden people's medical expenses," adding, "We will expand information disclosure to ensure the right to know and freedom of choice in medical care."