The Medical Innovation Committee, an advisory body under the Prime Minister tasked with leading Lee Jae-myung's medical reform, compressed a total of 10 agenda items into three areas — ▲strengthening regional, essential, and public health care ▲building a health care system for a super-aged society ▲enhancing sustainability for future environments — and decided to finalize them at the end of next month. It will also run three expert committees, each with up to 15 members.
On the 29th, the government held the second Medical Innovation Committee meeting at Government Complex Seoul, chaired by Chairperson Jeong Ki-hyeon, and announced this plan. A total of 27 people attended, including 26 civilian members from provider groups, consumer groups, and field experts, as well as the Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The committee discussed ▲selection of committee agendas and plans to form and operate expert committees ▲plans to gather public opinion, including the Medical Innovation citizens' panel ▲criteria and application measures for deliberating physician training scale ▲the main content and implementation plan of the "Act on the Training and Support of Regional Doctors" ▲plans to build a medical accident safety net.
Specifically, in the area of strengthening regional, essential, and public health care, three agendas were included: ▲strengthening essential care such as emergency, childbirth, and pediatrics and building a medical accident safety net ▲training future health care personnel ▲expanding public medical institutions and enhancing their capabilities.
For building a health care system for a super-aged society, the items include ▲establishing a home-based medical and care system and creating an environment for end-of-life care ▲expanding integrated nursing care services and improving the quality of caregiving services ▲building a prevention-centered health care system.
In the area of enhancing sustainability for future environments, the agendas include ▲establishing a sustainable national medical expense management system ▲building a health care system to respond to crises such as climate change and pandemics ▲building a future innovation-oriented health care system through AI (artificial intelligence) and technological innovation ▲establishing health care policy governance, including health care finance and workforce.
The committee decided to form three expert committees for in-depth discussions by agenda. Each expert committee, including one Chairperson, will be run with up to 15 experts, and, if necessary, will enhance substance through joint meetings and participation by additional experts. It also discussed a plan to set up a tentative medical system governance innovation task force to link discussions among the expert committees.
The committee plans to gather public opinion on each agenda through small, in-depth roundtables for residents in medically underserved areas and a nationwide public survey.
In particular, two agendas that draw high interest (strengthening emergency, childbirth, and pediatric care and building a state-responsibility medical accident safety net; building an integrated care system based on multidisciplinary cooperation) will go through a public deliberation process by forming citizens' panels.
In March, the committee plans to disclose the status of its discussions and public deliberation information through the online platform "Health Care for All People." Until the online platform opens, materials can be found in the data room on the Ministry of Health and Welfare website.
Chairperson Jeong Ki-hyeon said, "The innovation agendas discussed by the committee reflect a range of views and thus match public needs," adding, "We will swiftly form the expert committees and, through full-fledged discussions, identify policies that people can feel."
Meanwhile, there was no separate mention regarding the so-called "sugar levy" proposed by President Lee Jae-myung as a means of reinvesting in regional and public health care.
Previously, on the previous day, the president shared on X an article about "support for introducing a sugar tax" and publicly proposed, "How about curbing sugar use and reinvesting that levy to strengthen regional and public health care?"
After political circles and some media interpreted the proposal as a "sugar tax" and read it as a tax hike to make up for a revenue shortfall, the president posted rebuttal messages on social media for two consecutive days. The president noted, "I asked for public opinion, so why twist it into the introduction of a sugar tax? Is this creating a tax-hike frame to deal a blow in the local elections?"