In the future, the ‘Health Lifestyle Practice Support Fund’ provided to patients with hypertension and diabetes for practicing healthy lifestyles such as walking and education will be automatically deducted when paying medical bills. The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Health Insurance Corporation announced on the 14th that they would improve the pilot project for the Health Lifestyle Practice Support Fund to strengthen health management for patients with hypertension and diabetes and those with health risk factors.
The ‘Health Lifestyle Practice Support Fund’ is a project that provides financial incentives (points accumulation and use) for practicing healthy lifestyles such as walking and education to patients participating in the primary care chronic disease management project or those included in the health risk group among general health check-up recipients. From the 15th, the management type used by patients participating in the primary care chronic disease management project will be improved to allow automatic deduction within the range of points held when paying medical bills at participating clinics.
With this improvement, a system has been established to allow patients to pay medical bills within the range of points they hold after receiving treatment at participating clinics without having to issue a health practice card. In addition, the prevention type, in which health risk groups participate, will expand the pilot project areas from 15 to 50 regions from the 15th. The pilot project, which started in July 2021, has been continuously requested for regional expansion, and the prevention type target areas will be expanded to 50 regions nationwide to provide broader participation opportunities.
Lim Eun-jung, head of the Health Policy Division at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, ‘We are continuously promoting system improvements, such as converting the primary care chronic disease management project into a main project for managing patients with hypertension and diabetes,’ and ‘We expect that more people will practice healthy lifestyles on their own through this improvement of the Health Lifestyle Practice Support Fund system.’ Park Hyang-jung, head of the Health Support Project Office at the National Health Insurance Corporation, emphasized, ‘We will continue to expand the pilot project for the Health Lifestyle Practice Support Fund and improve convenience so that people can prevent and manage chronic diseases through self-directed healthy lifestyle practices.’