Medical expenses exceed ₩1 trillion

for 110,000 lung cancer pts

The elderly population increases

The number of lung cancer patients has steadily increased, and health insurance medical expenses exceeded 1 trillion won last year.

 

The NHIS (Chairman Jeong Ki-seok) announced this by using health insurance treatment data to promote the status of health insurance treatment for lung cancer patients from 2018 to 2022.

 

The number of patients treated increased by 25,236 (27.7%↑) from 91,192 in 2018 to 116,428 in 2022, and the average annual increase rate was 6.3%.

 

The number of men will be 70,564 in 2022, an increase of 22.5% (↑12,969) compared to 57,595 in 2018, and the number of women will be 45,864 in 2022, an increase of 36.5% (↑12,267) compared to 33,597 in 2018.

 

Looking at the composition of medical staff by age group, of the total medical staff (116,428 people), those in their 70s accounted for the most at 34% (39,541 people), those in their 60s accounted for 32.2% (37,516 people), and those in their 80s or older accounted for 17.8% (37,516 people).

 

20,704 people) followed.

 

For men, those in their 70s accounted for the highest proportion at 37.3%, followed by those in their 60s at 31.1% and those in their 80s or older at 18.8%.

 

For women, 33.9% were in their 60s, 28.8% were in their 70s, and 16.2% were in their 80s or older.

 

Health insurance medical expenses for lung cancer patients increased by 39.9% (364.8 billion won) compared to 2018, from 915 billion won in 2018 to 1.2799 trillion won in 2022, with an average annual increase rate of 8.8%.

 

Looking at medical expenses per person over five years, it increased by 9.6% from 10.03 million won in 2018 to 10.99 million won in 2022.

 

Lung cancer refers to a malignant tumor that occurs in the lung and can be divided into 'primary lung cancer' in the tissues that make up the lung and 'metastatic lung cancer' in other organs and spreads to the lung.

 

It is said that smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer known to date, with results showing that approximately 80% of deaths due to lung cancer are due to smoking.

 

Lee Sang-cheol, a professor in the Department of Respiratory Allergy at National Health Insurance Ilsan Hospital, said, "More than 70% of the causes of cancer are due to environmental factors and lifestyle habits such as smoking, high-fat diet, drinking, and exposure to carcinogens.

 

As we age, these risk factors decrease.

 

“The amount of exposure increases,” he said.

 

He explained, “The gradual increase in the elderly population due to aging is also the cause of the increasing cancer incidence rate in elderly patients.” ​