Addressing the Treatment Disparities for Serious Illnesses in Women: A Political Debate and the Road Ahead

A political debate on the treatment of serious illnesses in women took place in September last year, hosted by People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jong-seong. Provided by Representative Lee Jong-seong’s office

Every year, May 10th is “Women’s Health Day”. This was designated by the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2007 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its founding with the aim of improving women’s health and leading a happy life. Women’s health is also an important factor in the recent hot topic of low birth rates and aging populations. At the “Party-Government Council on Measures to Support the Health of Women and Children” held in December last year, Chairman of the Political Committee of the People’s Power Party, Yoo Ui-dong, said: “Improving health through Women’s life cycle is directly related to the health of not only women, but also their families and society, and also in terms of reducing social costs in the era of super-aging”. “It is a necessary measure,” he underlined. The “2nd Comprehensive National Health Insurance Plan” announced in February this year also included support for the management of major diseases throughout the life cycle of women. The government then announced that it would expand health insurance support for drugs with excellent therapeutic effects to reduce the burden of treatment costs for serious diseases affecting women, such as breast cancer, who are in great social need.

Jinhan Lee, medical journalist

However, in the same month, when the government announced an increase in medical school admission quota by 2,000 students and a package of four essential medical policies, the medical field was engulfed in confusion. And as the tense tug of war between hospitals continues, patients whose medical treatments such as tests and surgeries are postponed indefinitely are complaining of extreme anxiety and discomfort.

In particular, it is regrettable that, while the discussion focuses on the security of human resources and the stabilization of the medical system, the promotion of policies for patient access to care and reducing the cost burden of care appears to have received relatively little Attention.

Since the beginning of this year, in fact, there have been petitions at the National Assembly to obtain public consensus on accessibility to care, but the substantive discussions are at a standstill. Among the petitions there is a lot of talk about support for women suffering from serious illnesses and one of these asks for timely health insurance coverage for the new drug “Trodelvy (sacituzumab govitecan)” for triple-negative metastatic breast cancer.

Trodelvy is the only second-line treatment that significantly prolonged patient survival in large-scale clinical trials targeting previously treated patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Although triple-negative metastatic breast cancer patient is a rare and incurable disease with only a small number of patients in Korea, it was referred to the Health and Welfare Committee of the National Assembly with the consensus of more than 55,000 people and l interest and sympathy of many people. However, as it may be abolished when the 21st National Assembly expires at the end of this month, triple-negative metastatic breast cancer patients and their guardians who have been eagerly waiting for health insurance coverage are in a difficult situation.

Female patients suffer from various diseases in addition to breast cancer. Also considered common diseases among women are rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes and atopic dermatitis, which are autoimmune diseases that attack the body due to abnormalities in the immune function that protects the body from external invaders such as pathogens. .

In the case of autoimmune diseases, fortunately, with the active progress of research in recent years, “targeted treatments” have been developed to increase the effectiveness of treatment by suppressing only specific cytokines or immune cells at a specific stage that are the cause of the inflammatory response . However, if your symptoms worsen, side effects occur, or are completely ineffective during treatment with targeted therapy, you should switch to another treatment. For some autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, atopic dermatitis, and ulcerative colitis, changing target treatments is not covered by health insurance.

Kim Seong-gi, president of the Korean Psoriasis Association, said: “It is impossible for one treatment to continue to provide sufficient effects for all patients. “Different treatment methods are needed,” he lamented, adding, “There is a high probability that other treatments are effective, but because they are not covered by insurance, I cannot get better treatment.” The same goes for type 1 diabetes. Earlier this year, support was strengthened by requiring only 10% of treatment costs for type 1 diabetes patients under the age of 19, but benefits for adults are still insufficient.

Since protecting women’s health is one of the main tasks of Korean society, it is necessary to provide the necessary support for treatment. Regardless of the recent medical gap, I hope that health insurance support will be quickly promoted so that women who live as someone’s daughters, wives and mothers can live happily without being frustrated.

Jinhan Lee, medical journalist likeday@donga.com

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