Medical expenses paid to institutions and pharmacies last year exceeded 100 trillion won for the first time.
 
According to the “2022 Health Insurance Key Statistics” document released by the National Health Insurance Service on Wednesday, total expenses, which include health insurance contributions and out-of-pocket charges, reached 102 trillion-427-point-seven billion  won, or 75-point-28 billion U.S. dollars, to mark a nine-point-five-percent increase over last year.

The number of inpatient days in 2022 also increased ten-point-five percent from the previous year.

The data showed that 43-point-one percent of all medical expenses were spent by the elderly population aged 65 or older, dropping ever so slightly from 43-point-four percent the previous year.

The elderly account for 17-percent of the total population, with the average monthly medical expenses per person coming out to 429-thousand-585 won.