Tobacco firms sued by health insurer
Print Edition
SOUTH Korea’s state health insurer said yesterday it had filed a lawsuit against three domestic and foreign tobacco makers, seeking damages of 53.7 billion won (US$51.6 million) for payouts over smoking-related illnesses.
The National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) said the suit, filed in Seoul’s district court, named Philip Morris, British American Tobacco (BAT) and South Korea’s largest tobacco firm KT&G.
“Smoking is a serious issue affecting people, particularly the youth and women,” the agency said in a statement.
“So we will push ahead with this suit with a strong determination, for the future of our nation and the sustainability of our health insurance.”
The damages figure was calculated from the agency’s spending on patients who smoked for more than 30 years before being diagnosed with one of three types of cancer — two lung and one throat — most likely to be caused by smoking.
The insurer said earlier it spent about 1.7 trillion won each year to help treat diseases caused by smoking.
“The money could instead have been used to help half of the 1.73 million South Koreans who are not covered by national insurance because their payments are overdue,” NHIS chief Kim Jong-Dae wrote on his blog in December.
“I wonder if it’s socially fair that tobacco companies cashing in on smoking — which poses such health hazards — take no responsibility for the consequences,” he added.
The NHIS move came days after the Supreme Court rejected a damages suit filed by 30 lung cancer patients against KT&G.
Around 25 percent of South Korean adults are smokers, while the value of South Korea’s tobacco market is estimated at more than US$9.0 billion.
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