Dr. Jiwon Yoon

Thank you so much for resonating with it & sharing 🙏❤️

What countries can learn from Korea’s universal health coverage journey Korea's health system offers one of many reference points for countries striving to achieve universal health coverage (UHC).

10.
And here is an English explainer on Korea’s national insurance system:

blogs.worldbank.org/en/health/wh...

Thank you so much for thinking of me when you saw it 🤩

The Nation in Uniform: How Korea Traded Freedom for “Rice and Order” This is Part 2 of the K-Book Uncovered series on Yu Si-min’s My History of Contemporary Korea (나의 한국 현대사).

9.
If anyone is interested, I wrote another piece about a Korean politician who is part of the larger history of that safety net
yoonjiwon.substack.com/p/korea-barr...

8.
Korea is not perfect. But the difference in basic medical access can feel staggering.

How a country treats mothers and children reveals what that society thinks care is for.

7.
Both times, we tried to see her pediatrician, but there were no open appointments, so we ended up at urgent care.
We have what is considered pretty good insurance, and we still paid about $350 for one visit. Even a regular pediatrician visit usually costs us around $130.

6.
Later, when my daughter got sick in KR, we took her to the #pediatrician - examined, tested, and given medicine. The out-of-pocket cost was 900W, less than a dollar. (She is covered under KR national insurance, since she has dual citizenship)
Here in the US, she got sick twice this year.

5.
I had an ultrasound & full check-up. The total came to about 24,000W, ($20). I told them I didn't have Korean insurance, and they said that was the uninsured price, because prenatal care is heavily subsidized so that even people without Korean insurance can access it without too much burden.

4.
C-sections required about 5% of the total fee to be paid by the patient. From 2025, even that five percent is covered by national insurance.

Personal Experiences:
When I was pregnant, I went to an #OB-GYN in KR after a long flight, to make sure everything was okay.

3.
Korea has a nationally integrated #insurance system with broad population coverage, and that changes the emotional experience of walking into a clinic.
Take #childbirth, for example. In KR, #vaginal-births have long carried zero out-of-pocket cost for mothers.

2.
Korea’s #health-care system has serious problems too, and I don’t want to romanticize it.
Koreans are often sharply critical of it, and for good reason. But when it comes to the everyday experience of price and #access, it is very hard to compare Korea and the US directly.

1.
Same child. Same kind of sickness. Less than a dollar in #Korea. About 350 dollars in the #US, even after #insurance.

I've been discussing the KR vs. US #medicalsystems in my comments, and I realized it needs a dedicated post.

Of course, it is not literally free if you factor in things like the type of hospital room you choose and other additional charges. But compared with the United States, that is close enough to feel practically free.

In the US, having a baby is incredibly expensive. In Korea, vaginal delivery had already been set at zero out-of-pocket cost for the patient, while for C-sections the mother used to pay 5 percent of the cost. But starting in 2025, even that 5 percent is covered by the government.

We have pretty “good” insurance through my husband’s employer, and our share after insurance was about $350 for a single visit. So no, Korea is not perfect, but in terms of basic accessibility, the two systems are just not in the same universe.

My daughter is covered under Korean national insurance. When she got sick in Korea as a baby, we went to the pediatrician, she was examined, tested, and given medicine, and the out-of-pocket cost was under a dollar (900won).

Here in the U.S., she’s been to urgent care twice this year.

They told me that was actually the uninsured price, because the government subsidizes prenatal care so that even foreign mothers can access OB care without too much burden.

From my own experience: when I was pregnant, I flew to Korea and went to an OB-GYN to make sure the long flight hadn’t caused any problems. I had an ultrasound and a full check-up, and the total cost was around 24,000 won (about 20 dollars). When I said I didn’t have Korean insurance,

What countries can learn from Korea’s universal health coverage journey Korea's health system offers one of many reference points for countries striving to achieve universal health coverage (UHC).

And I’ll also link an English explainer on Korea’s national insurance system below
blogs.worldbank.org/en/health/wh...

The Nation in Uniform: How Korea Traded Freedom for “Rice and Order” This is Part 2 of the K-Book Uncovered series on Yu Si-min’s My History of Contemporary Korea (나의 한국 현대사).

If you’re interested, I wrote another piece about a Korean politician who is part of the larger history of that safety net. yoonjiwon.substack.com/p/korea-barr...

Korea’s medical system absolutely has serious problems too, so I would never want to romanticize it.
But on price and access, it is still very hard to compare Korea and the U.S. directly. Korea has a nationally integrated insurance system with broad population coverage.

Please, no need to apologize at all, and please call me Jiwon. And truly, thank you so much for reading. In a world overflowing with things to read, the fact that someone takes the time to read my work, sit with it, and think with me means more than I can say 🙏

In this scene from #TheVillageBarber, #LeeSang-yi comes to realize how truly exhausting childcare can be, while #ParkBo-gum listens closely and empathetically as a mother shares her story. A moving reminder that acknowledging the weight of #childcare is a sacred act of support 🧡

I saw it this morning after my husband took our daughter to Korean school. Thank you for sharing 😍 it truly warmed my heart. We need more stories like this, where the quiet, exhausting labor of mothers is not only shared but also met with such sincere acknowledgment and care 💚

Sanhujori didn't emerge from surgical trends: it comes from a much deeper, ancient understanding of the body's recovery. That said, the C-section question definitely deserves its own deep dive later! 🙏

That is a fascinating part of the modern picture, but the spike in C-sections is actually a very recent shift. My piece focuses on a tradition that predates modern surgery by centuries.

Thank you so much, @lionessmom.bsky.social and @zephtx.bsky.social 🙏 I am deeply touched that my reflections could offer a sense of shared support during these heavy times. Hearing that my work helped you find a moment to breathe means the world to me 🩷

Deeply, deeply appreciate it 🥹 thank you so much🙏🏻

That makes me so happy 🥹 I love when a little more context makes the nuances come alive. And thank you for sharing where people might find it, too ☺️

My very pleasure! Thank you so much for being such a thoughtful reader 😊❤️