ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Under the national health insurance system, the price of surgical operation of Korea was thought low and unreasonable. The object of this study is to assess the adequateness of the operation fee of Korea. METHODS: We compared the operation fee of Korea with that of Taiwan, Japan and USA at the year of 2000. Compared items were selected according to incidence and importance in the 18 parts of surgery. The medical fee of USA is median price. RESULTS: Physical examination fee of USA is 6.7~34 times of that of Korea at the first visit and 4.9-38 times at the second visit. The fee of incision and drainage of Japan is 3.9 times of that of Korea and that of USA is 34.7~71 times of Korea. The appendectomy fee of Japan is 4.6 times of that of Korea and that of USA is 11.6 times of Korea. The sum of fee of 16 representative operations in surgery (I&D, suture of facial laceration, exision of benign skin tumor, lymphadenectomy, herniorrhaphy, hemorrhoidectomy, appendectomy, radical subtotal gastrectomy, radical mastectomy, thyroid lobectomy, cholecystectomy, splenectomy, right hemicolectomy, right hepatic lobectomy, whipple's operation, and striping of varicose vein) of Taiwan is 1.7 times of that of Korea, that of Japan is 7.3 times, and that of USA is 11 times (16.8 times at the highest price). CONCLUSION: There are big difference among these countries in the meaning of the price, the number of items and the price of the operations. The operation fee of Korea is relatively lower than that of other countires such as Taiwan, Japan and the USA.