[THE INVESTOR]  South Korea’s health insurance outlays climbed to 57.95 trillion won (US$50.98 billion) last year buoyed by the increasing number of senior citizens requiring medical attention.

The total amount to cover medical examinations, hospitalizations and drug purchases rose 6.6 percent on-year in 2015, according to the report by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service and the National Health Insurance Corporation on Oct. 25.

On average, a South Korean visited a hospital or clinic a total of 19.3 days last year, it said.

The report showed that the money used to cover senior citizens aged over 65 jumped 11.4 percent on-year to 22.23 trillion won in 2015.

An average of 3.62 million won was spent by a single senior citizen to get checkups and treatment at hospitals last year, the report showed.

Most of the medical spending by senior citizens were to treat high blood pressure, followed by teeth and gums, and acute bronchiolitis, the report showed.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)