Prices for uninsured patient rooms vary by hospitals from 20,000 won a day to 449,000 won, according to Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service.

In South Korea, the cost of hospital stays in single to three-person patients’ rooms -- which cost much more than multi-occupancy patient rooms for four or more -- are currently uninsured by the national insurance program.

Many patients, however, are forced to stay in the uninsured rooms if no other rooms are available, and end up paying high hospital bills.

According to the state agency’s website, the hospital that has the cheapest price for their single patient rooms was Daewoo General Hospital in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, at 20,000 a day.

Meanwhile, the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul had the most expensive rates for its single patients’ rooms -- at 449,000 won -- which was 22.5 times higher than the cheapest.

In terms of uninsured three-person patients’ rooms, Jangheung Hospital, a general hospital in Jangheung, South Jeolla Province, had the cheapest rates among all hospitals nationwide, at 5,000 won a day.

The rates are 35.8 times cheaper than a similar facility at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, which cost 179,000 won a night.

The Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service also plans to provide price information on other uninsured medical treatments and services, such as drug induced sleep endoscopy and robot-assisted surgeries for prostate cancer and thyroid cancer, at every general hospital nationwide -- so patients can compare the prices before making their decisions.

The government has plans to gradually broaden the national health insurance program’s coverage of expenses to “four major diseases” -- cancer, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and a total of 138 yet-to-be cured conditions such as Crohn’s disease -- by 2017.


By Claire Lee
(dyc@heraldcorp.com)