National health insurance drug costs surpassed 27 trillion won in 2024. The share of total medical expenses also inched up, adding to fiscal pressure.
The National Health Insurance Service said on the 23rd that drug benefit expenditure in 2024 was 27.6625 trillion won, up about 1.5 trillion won, or 5.6%, from the prior year (26.1966 trillion won).
Total medical expenses during the same period were 116.2375 trillion won, up 4.9%. As a result, the share of drug costs in total medical expenses rose 0.2 percentage points to 23.8% from 23.6% a year earlier.
Health insurance drug costs have been steadily increasing over the past four years. Drug costs rose from 22.0093 trillion won in 2021 to 24.1542 trillion won in 2022, 26.1966 trillion won in 2023, and surpassed the 27 trillion won range last year.
In international comparisons, Korea's share of drug costs is also high. According to health statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as of 2023, the share of pharmaceutical expenditure in Korea's current health spending was 19.4%, 5.0 percentage points higher than the OECD average of 14.4%. It was also higher than Japan (17.6%), Germany (13.7%), and the United Kingdom (9.7%).
By therapeutic class, antineoplastics were the largest at 3.1432 trillion won, followed by anti-arteriosclerotics at 3.1028 trillion won and antihypertensives at 2.0529 trillion won. The top five therapeutic classes accounted for 40.4% of total drug costs.
By ingredient group, the ezetimibe and rosuvastatin combination was the highest at 704.6 billion won. It was followed by choline alfoscerate at 557.6 billion won and atorvastatin at 554.3 billion won. The top five ingredient groups made up 9.4% of total drug costs.
Comparing original and generic medicines, originals recorded expenditure of 15.3434 trillion won last year, accounting for 55.6% of the total. Generics were 12.2591 trillion won, or 44.4%. The share of generics has been expanding each year.
An official at the National Health Insurance Service said, "We plan to pursue system improvements to ease patients' drug cost burdens and secure the sustainability of health insurance finances."