Photo : YONHAP News
Any patient not requiring emergency health care will now have to bear 90 percent of the cost of an emergency room(ER) visit.
The drastic increase in ER service costs comes as revisions to the enforcement ordinance of the National Health Insurance Act take effect Friday, a day before the Chuseok holiday weekend.
Previously, patients were responsible for 50 to 60 percent of treatment fees regardless of their condition, due to higher insurance coverage.
The move is intended to reduce workloads at the nation’s emergency rooms, which are struggling with a shortage of doctors following the mass resignation of trainee doctors in February.
A daily average of about 79-hundred medical institutions will remain open during the Chuseok holiday, more than double the number that stayed open over the Lunar New Year holiday early this year.
And 518 emergency medical facilities will operate nationwide every day during the holiday.
Wednesday marked the first day of a two-week contingency period that ends September 25, part of a government initiative to cope with the shortage of doctors during the Chuseok holiday.