Medical institutions that have not filed a single claim for National Health Insurance benefits have increased by more than 25% over the past five years. In particular, clinics run by general practitioners rose the most, prompting calls to identify the actual conditions at clinics focused on noncovered services.
On the 3rd, according to data Rep. Seo Young-seok of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the Health and Welfare Committee, received from the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA), the number of medical institutions that did not file National Health Insurance benefit claims increased 25.5% (462) from 1,810 in 2021 to 2,272 in 2025.
Among them, general practitioner clinics rose from 1,004 to 1,436, up 43.0% (432), the largest increase. The share of general practitioners among all institutions with no claims also expanded from 55.5% in 2021 to 63.2% last year.
By contrast, plastic surgery clinics increased only 4% over the same period, from 702 to 728. Their share among all institutions with no claims fell from 38.8% to 32.0%.
As of 2025, of the 1,436 general practitioner medical institutions with no National Health Insurance claims, 951 (66.2%) were in Seoul and Gyeonggi. Notably, 458 were clustered in Seoul's Gangnam and Seocho districts alone, accounting for 31.9% of the total.
Gangnam District had 339, the most at 23.6% of all nonclaiming general practitioner medical institutions. Next were Seocho District with 119, Jung District in Seoul with 48, and Busanjin District in Busan with 40. Jung District in Daegu and Mapo District in Seoul tied for fifth with 34 each.
While most medical institutions without insurance claims are likely centered on noncovered services, a lack of National Health Insurance claim data makes it difficult to identify their actual practice patterns, a limitation that has been noted.
Rep. Seo Young-seok said, "As there are indications that cosmetic medical institutions run by general practitioners and centered on noncovered services are increasing, it is necessary to accurately identify the situation in this field and review management measures."
According to market analysis firm Data Bridge Market Research, Korea's cosmetic procedure market is projected to reach $6.65838 billion (about 9.5 trillion won) in 2029.