Evaluation of the Healthcare System Effectiveness of the Republic of Korea

The healthcare economy of the Republic of Korea began to arouse interest after the country showed its ability to cope with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, practically without isolating itself, unlike many other countries. The study of the experience of the Republic of Korea is important for understanding whether it is worth reforming one's system according to the model of the Republic of Korea. An important issue is the assessment of the economic efficiency of the South Korean system. At the same time, the system should be equally effective both in a stable period and to withstand pandemic-type crises. To assess economic efficiency, or determine the optimal use of resources, we studied healthcare expenditure during normal and crisis periods. Life expectancy, total mortality rate per thousand population, and infant mortality rate were taken as the results. The paper provides a comparative analysis with data from Japan and Italy. The author concludes that before the pandemic, the healthcare system of the Republic of Korea was relatively economically efficient, and during the pandemic, despite its undeniable successes, it turned out to be less economically efficient than other countries in the study. Rising healthcare costs led to a crisis in the system after the pandemic, which revealed the need to reform the existing system to restore economical optimum.

Healthcare, healthcare economics, Republic of Korea, healthcare efficiency, life expectancy, healthcare expenditure, mortality, Japan