Assembly speaker calls for tighter emergency medical system to end 'hospital-hopping' crisis

National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik met with Minister of Health and Welfare Jeong Eun-kyeong on Friday and called for stronger emergency medical care, including clearer accountability in patient transport.

Meeting Jeong at his office in the National Assembly, Cho said the emergency medical system "is directly tied to people's lives — it is, in the truest sense, a safety net for the public," adding that the government must take an active role in tightly managing emergency patient transport responsibilities and overall emergency care capacity.

Cho also raised the problem of patients — particularly pregnant women — missing critical treatment windows because ambulances are turned away from multiple hospitals in succession, a phenomenon widely known in Korea as "emergency room spinning." He said the Assembly would pay close attention to related policy and budget matters "so that the public can feel a real difference."

Turning to national health insurance, Cho said the government is working to reduce fiscal spending through measures such as controlling drug costs and strengthening oversight, and added that the government must continue its efforts to reinforce accountability on that front as well.

He added that a stock market boom is expected to push back the projected depletion of the national pension fund by about five years, and urged the minister to manage the fund well so it can serve as a reliable pillar of support for the public.

Jeong told Cho that emergency care is "something the public worries about greatly, so we are treating it as our top priority." She noted that an amendment to the Emergency Medical Services Act is already before a standing committee in the National Assembly, and said her ministry is prepared to begin deliberations as soon as the second-half legislative session opens.

In response, Cho said that bills concerning public health and lives "are precisely the kind of everyday-life legislation that matters most to people." He recalled pledging upon taking office as speaker to move such bills forward with urgency, and asked the ministry to have the necessary groundwork ready on its end.