DPK "Innovation·eradicate rebates"…PPP "Vaccine safety·NIP expansion"

Early peak at June 3 local elections…summaries of core pledges of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the People Power Party (PPP)

The DPK, moving beyond generics·national support for essential medicines·daily monitoring of rebates

The PPP, expanding insurer hospitals·strengthening national vaccines·preventing emergency room hopping

The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the People Power Party (PPP)

Ahead of the June 3 local elections, both the ruling and opposition parties have finalized their core healthcare pledges, focusing on fostering the pharma-biotech industry and driving healthcare innovation.

The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) promised to restructure the domestic pharmaceutical industry, which remains centered on generics, by overhauling the drug pricing system with a strong emphasis on innovation and establishing a fair compensation framework for novel drug development.

The DPK also pledged to launch a multi-ministerial cooperation system linking the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and the National Tax Service (NTS) to eliminate illegal pharmaceutical and medical device rebates at the source.

Granting special judicial police authorizations to the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) to stop leakages in health insurance finances and dismantle fraudulent profit-making structures was also included in the DPK's official campaign pledges.

Meanwhile, the People Power Party (PPP) focused its pledges heavily on expanding vaccine infrastructure closely tied to health security. Leading the introduction of novel pneumococcal vaccines and high-immunogenicity influenza vaccines into the National Immunization Program (NIP) is a key area the PPP plans to champion following the local elections.

In the health insurance sector, the PPP made its stance clear on tightening post-hoc management and regulatory controls against illegal medical practices and distribution market distortions that cause leakages in national health insurance finances.

These analysis have been made based on the May 26thlocal election manifestos of both major political parties regarding the pharma-biotech and healthcare policies.

The DPK, Major transformation of the Pharma-Biotech industry...Implementing an official MOHW-NTS rebate eradication task force

The DPK placed the structural innovation of the domestic pharma-biotech industry at the forefront of its campaign. The party expressed a strong commitment to introducing an innovation-linked drug-pricing overhaul and a fair compensation framework to shift the domestic pharmaceutical ecosystem away from a generic-centric model toward innovative drugs.

Furthermore, the DPK promised to build a state-backed supply chain, including a national contract manufacturing framework for essential medicines such as pediatric drugs and antibiotics, as well as modernizing domestic manufacturing facilities for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

To prevent recurring drug shortages, the DPK’s vision is to establish a collaborative network between the government and pharmaceutical companies to ensure a stable supply of essential pediatric drugs, antibiotics, and vaccines, and to immediately allocate national budget resources to achieve self-sufficiency in APIs, which currently rely heavily on overseas imports.

The DPK also declared it would drive efforts to eliminate illegalities in the healthcare market and stop health insurance financial leakage by introducing an SJP system for the NHIS to eradicate illegal non-physician-owned hospitals and implementing periodic, concentrated crackdowns on drug and medical device rebates via MOHW-NTS cooperation.

Regarding rebates, the core of the DPK’s pledge is to go beyond one-off enforcement and establish a permanent system capable of executing periodic, intensive crackdowns across the entire illicit transaction architecture, including both rebate providers and intermediaries.

To reinforce regional, essential, and public healthcare, the DPK plans to redesign region-specific transfer and referral protocols linking emergency fire services and medical institutions on a city-and-province level, while expanding state compensation liabilities for no-fault medical accidents occurring during essential healthcare delivery.

The party also announced the creation of a Medical Accident Review Committee to mitigate upfront judicial risks for essential healthcare physicians, establishing a mutually beneficial safety net.

The PPP, Enhancing vaccine safety and expanding NIP...eradicating the causes of 'Emergency Room Hopping'

The PPP finalized its central healthcare pledges under the core value of welfare for the underprivileged, placing heavy emphasis on narrowing regional healthcare disparities and substantially improving the emergency medical network.

First, the PPP plans to strengthen public healthcare by establishing NHIS-directly operated regional insurer hospitals. This plan aims to ensure that vulnerable regions with weak medical infrastructure can successfully deliver essential medical services, including emergency care, trauma care, obstetric care, pediatric care, and infectious disease response.

The PPP also stated it would firmly establish a transfer and referral control tower centered around the Central Emergency Medical Center, and eradicate the core causes of "emergency room hopping" by overhauling clear hospital refusal criteria and transfer guidelines.

To ensure ambulances do not wander with patients on board, the party will refine hospital selection guidelines and clear parameters for hospital refusal. Concurrently, the party packaged protective measures for emergency medical staff and strategies to boost definitive care capacity (infrastructure for backup surgery and hospitalization) into its campaign promises.

The PPP will also drastically expand support for the National Immunization Program (NIP) to deliver tangible benefits to citizens.

To alleviate the medical expense burden on the elderly and underprivileged populations and to realize a health-security framework centered on disease prevention, the party will aggressively increase funding for vaccinations.

Specifically, a free shingles vaccination program will be introduced. The NIP support for the shingles vaccine, which resonates most deeply among middle-aged and elderly demographics, will be expanded to include all individuals aged 65 and older.

The PPP also pledged to upgrade the vaccine lineup. By introducing novel pneumococcal vaccines and high-immunogenicity influenza vaccines into the NIP, the PPP aims to prevent severe respiratory diseases among senior citizens.