Together with the Democratic Party’s representative Lee Nak-yeon, everyone is speaking at a conference on the development status of corona treatments held at the National Assembly Hall in Yeouido, Seoul. News 1
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Dangjeong decided to provide a free treatment for Celltrion’s novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), which is likely to be released at the end of this month. The Corona 19 vaccine, which is scheduled to be introduced next month, will also be distributed free of charge. It is natural for the government to take responsibility for the cost of treatment for large-scale infectious diseases, but some are concerned that the burden of health insurance and national finances will increase.
Lee Nak-yeon, CEO of the Democratic Party, said on the 12th that “Celltrion Corona 19 treatment, which will be released at the end of this month, will be provided free of charge like a vaccine.” He added, “The supply price would be about 400,000 won, but getting the treatment and leaving the hospital early can save money for the government.”
◆ Celltrion treatment seems to be free
Celltrion is developing’Rekironaju (codename CP-P59)’, a Corona 19 antibody treatment. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is currently undergoing phase 2 clinical trials and plans to announce the clinical results on the 13th. If the effectiveness and safety are proved here, there is a possibility that the approval process will be immediately entered and approved at the end of this month. Since Rekironaju designed phase 2 clinically similar to phase 3 clinical trial, it is subject to’conditional approval’, which is quickly reviewed. Celltrion R&D Director Kwon Ki-seong said, “We confirmed the effect of regeneron and other antibody treatments in phase 2 of clinical trials” at the corona treatment development status check meeting held at the National Assembly. The price of Rekirona is expected to be 400,000 won per dose, but the ruling party explained that it would not burden patients.
The free supply of Celltrion treatment is a scheduled procedure. A government official said, “For first-degree infectious diseases such as Corona 19, it is a principle to pay the full cost of treatment from the health and national finances,” and “Celltrion treatment is no exception.” Currently, there is no cost to patients for COVID-19 treatments prescribed in the field, such as remdesivir and dexamethasone. However, since remdesivir is administered only to critically ill patients who need oxygen therapy, there are not many prescriptions. So far, the number of prescriptions for remdesivir is about 3,100.
In contrast, Celltrion aims to supply treatments to more than 100,000 people in Korea. Due to the large supply, there are observations that financial expenditures such as health insurance can increase dramatically. The Health Insurance Corporation estimates the cost of hospitalization and treatment for Corona 19 last year at about 290 billion won. Since the health insurance agency and the national and local governments share the treatment cost at an 8 to 2 ratio, only the health care financial burden is expected to be around 230 billion won. If Celltrion treatments are widely prescribed, the financial burden for health care could surge.
However, there is also an expectation that the prescription for Celltrion treatment will not be as many as the company expected. “Antibody therapy is mainly used for mild patients,” said Bae Bae-hwan, a professor of infectious medicine at Seoul Boramae Hospital. “Since young people are often cured without treatment, they are expected to be administered mainly to high-risk groups such as the elderly among mild patients.” Regeneron, an antibody treatment drug, has also been popularized in the US, but it is known that the dosage is only 20% of the supply.
◆Concerns about health insurance and national financial insecurity
The problem is that the financial burden is not limited to COVID-19 treatment. Corona 19 vaccine, which aims to inoculate the whole country, is representative. Vaccine-related costs are largely a purchase cost and an inoculation cost. The government has prepared a budget of 1.3 trillion won for purchase, but the budget for inoculation has not been secured yet. Some are predicting that the inoculation fee will reach 2 trillion won. △In the national free vaccination program such as flu, the unit cost of vaccination, such as injection and examination fees, is 19,200 won, and △About 48 million people are eligible for the Corona 19 vaccine, and △ Most of the corona 19 vaccine needs to be inoculated twice per person. .
Regarding this, an official from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance explained that “the government is involved in the overall process of vaccination for Corona 19 vaccine, and plans to lower the vaccination cost.” However, because there are so many vaccination targets, there seems to be a limit to reducing the financial burden. This is why there are concerns that the unstable health and national finances may be further shaken. Health Insurance posted a deficit of 2,629.4 billion won in the first and third quarters of last year. It is a massive deficit for the second consecutive year following 2019 (2,8243 trillion won). The government’s fiscal soundness is also deteriorating. The ratio of national debt to gross domestic product (GDP) soared from 37.7% in 2019 to 44.2% last year, and is expected to rise further to 47.8% this year.
Experts pointed out that the government has caused difficulties in financial management due to its concentration on measures such as Moon Jae-in care (measures to strengthen health insurance coverage) and emergency disaster support for the whole country. Kim Sang-bong, a professor of economics at Hansung University, said, “From the beginning, we should have secured and executed the quarantine-related budget as the top priority, but there is a side that was relatively neglected because of the focus on patience measures.”
Reporter Seo Min-joon [email protected]
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