Medical fees for foreign patients to be disclosed

Fifty medical centers have disclosed their fees to prevent illegal brokerage activities and provide credible service information, as a growing number of foreign patients seek treatment here.

The move is the first of its kind, in line with the central government’s efforts to push plastic surgery clinics to disclose their fees for price comparisons.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul Tourism Organization said Thursday that the information is available on www.visitmedicalkorea.com.

The 50 centers, ranging from hospitals to clinics, are partners with the city government, including Asan Medical Center, Samsung Medical Center, Severance Hospital, Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine, Wonjin Beauty Medical Group, Oracle Clinic and Cheil General Hospital & Women’s Healthcare Center.

“This is part of the city’s efforts to build trust among medical tourists in Seoul,” said the city government. “We hope this will prevent brokers and hospitals from overcharging their clients.”

However, the disclosure of the medical services fees is limited to certain categories. For example, Asan Medical Center only reveals the price for its cancer health checkup package. Likewise, Severance Hospital only discloses the price for a general health check.

“It was impossible to get them reveal all the fees,” one official said. “The prices are secret for the hospitals, and they strongly resisted the plan when we first brought the idea to them. But we believe it is a good start and will motivate them to disclose more.”

According to the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, the number of medical tourists in 2014 was 155,000, a 25 percent rise from the previously year. Most of them are Chinese patients. Internal medicine was found to represent the largest portion of treatments, followed by plastic surgery, dermatology and general health checks.

With the rise of medical tourism, complaints have also risen from patients that they were overcharged.

To prevent overcharging, the health ministry has pushed plastic surgery clinics to reveal their fees. The government has also allowed medical tourists to get taxes refunded at the airport on departure.

The city government began addressing the problem on its own to prevent overcharging of foreign patients. The city also introduced a pickup service for tourists from the airport this month.