National health insurance to cover all but aesthetics and plastic surgery:National health insurance will expand to cover all medical services except aesthetics andplastic surgery, according to a government announcement yesterday. The expansion willcost KRW30.6t through end-2022and should reduce patients’ out-of-pocket expenses by17.5%, or by 64.4% for services that have so far not been covered. The government intendsto finance the plans by tapping KRW20t of the National Health Insurance Service’s(NHIS) cumulative reserves, increasing aid from government coffers, and collectinginsurance premiums from a wider base. It plans to keep insurance premium growth nearthe 10-year average of 3.2%, while stressing preventive care and ex-post healthcare to easethe burden on NHIS finances. To boost medical demand: The move should increase access to medical services anddrugs, boosting medical demand. But previous increases in healthcare insurance coveragehave generally come with price cuts. So, depending on the magnitude of demand growthand price cuts, the impact on hospitals and companies should vary. Beneficiaries: As the government is responsible for the treatment and care of thosewith dementia, we should see a decline in related costs. The cost burden for dentures anddental implants should also drop from 50% to 30%—for instance, implant costs per toothshould decline from KRW600,000to KRW360,000. Furthermore, the government plansto subsidize hospital treatments for children under 15years old, capping the cost burdenat 5%. Fertility treatment and gynecological ultrasound should be covered by nationalhealth insurance. Thanks to a gradual expansion of coverage over 2014-2016for dentalimplants for patients aged 65or older, the number of dental implant patients covered bythe NHIS jumped from 21,805in 2014to 300,543in 2016. The sales volume of implantscovered by insurance also jumped from 36,702to 491,083over the same period. Theexpanded coverage should benefit firms that make materials and equipment for dementiadiagnosis and treatment, makers of dental implants, and hospitals specialized in fertilitytreatment.