President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea and Well being and Welfare Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong. (Yonhap)
“To the younger era, hair loss is a matter of survival.”
Whereas listening to an ordinary briefing by the Ministry of Well being and Welfare, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung abruptly referred to as on the ministry to contemplate making hair loss remedies eligible for nationwide medical health insurance protection. The ministry responded that it might make the suitable concerns, however steered that overlaying such remedies below the nation’s state-run medical health insurance system may pose a problem.
“Evidently some folks really feel that younger persons are being ripped off, as they pay for nationwide medical health insurance however don’t profit from it that a lot,” the president stated, proposing making hair loss remedies eligible for protection below the state-run medical health insurance.
“Hair loss is a illness, is it not? I heard that younger folks use plenty of [hair loss medication]. Have you ever at the very least thought-about it?” Lee requested Minister of Well being and Welfare Jeong Eun-kyeong.
Jeong replied that whereas Korea subsidizes remedies for spot baldness — often known as alopecia areata — which happens because of medical causes, the effectiveness of treating genetic hair loss is disputed, so these remedies usually are not eligible for protection.
At the moment, hair loss treatment shouldn’t be coated below nationwide medical health insurance. Nonetheless, holistic remedies akin to acupuncture or steroid injections for spot baldness, androgenetic alopecia, scarring hair loss, and different types of non-scarring hair harm are coated at the very least partially by the Nationwide Well being Insurance coverage Service.
Even after the well being minister’s response, the president continued to press.
“Aren’t hereditary illnesses additionally attributable to genetics?” he requested.
Jeong replied that hair loss “doesn’t current non-cosmetic signs, neither is it life-threatening” and that medical health insurance doesn’t cowl remedies carried out for beauty causes.
That’s when the president referred to balding as a matter of survival.
“Again within the day, folks considered it as a beauty difficulty, however today it’s seen as a problem of survival,” he stated. “I’d such as you to check out how a lot it might price, and if the monetary burden is steep, to look into limiting the variety of occasions [it is covered by insurance] or implementing a ceiling on protection.”
“We are going to look into it,” the well being minister stated in response to the president’s repeated directives.
Following her report back to the president, Jeong gave a briefing to the press.
“As that is one thing that the Well being Insurance coverage Coverage Deliberative Committee should deliberate on, we have to have a look at the problem of overlaying [hair loss medication] comprehensively, making an allowance for the requirements of protection and feasibility, in addition to monetary ramifications,” Jeong stated.
“As exploring the need of the transfer and crunching the monetary numbers will take some time, it’s onerous to say when it’d truly be coated,” she stated.
By Her Yun-hee, workers reporter
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