National health care dental coverage expands for elderly
Starting this July, patients over 75-years-old will be eligible to receive dental coverage at half the original price.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced the updated health care plan on June 25. According to the new policy, medical expenses incurred for dental implants will be around KRW 600,000 and applicants can get a maximum of two teeth replaced.
National health care coverage has been expanded to cover dental for people over 75-years-old.
Before the adoption of this new plan, people had to spend out-of-pocket an average of between KRW 1.39 million and KRW 1.8 million for such dental services.
The new health policy states the price has been newly set at KRW 1.01 million for a tooth care service and at between KRW 130,000 and 270,000 for the materials. The total expense charged to the patient is estimated to be around KRW 1.14 to 1.28 million. As insurance applicants can get services at 50 percent off, the estimated final price is expected to be around KRW 570,000 to 640,000.
People over the age of 75 will be covered starting this July, and the new policy will be expanded to cover people over the age of 70 in July 2015 and people over the age of 65 sometime in 2016.
More information is available at the website of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
https://english.mw.go.kr
By Lee Seung-ah
Korea.net Staff Writer
slee27@korea.kr