New NHIS chief vows to put 'human dignity' at center of health insurance reform

Kang Cheong-hee, the newly appointed president of the National Health Insurance Service, said Monday that "human dignity" will serve as both the starting point and the ultimate goal of the organization's reform agenda.

Speaking at her inauguration as the 11th NHIS president at the agency's headquarters in Wonju, Gangwon Province, Kang said the organization "exists to protect the dignity of people and their right to live as human beings."

She declared a "reboot" of the national health insurance system, pledging to "rebuild the very reason health insurance exists and overhaul its services, organization, finances and operating structure from the ground up, with the people at the center."

As the vision underpinning the reboot, she outlined a "life-cycle health security system" that would help people prevent illness before it strikes, maintain good health, and ensure a healthy old age — including long-term care.

Kang also unveiled plans to transform the NHIS into a people-centered health and welfare platform. "For the public, health and welfare do not exist separately," she said, promising to "build a national health and welfare platform that connects national health insurance, long-term care insurance and community-based integrated care into one."

She also said artificial intelligence is "not a choice but an inevitable standard of the age," adding that the NHIS would use its world-class health insurance big data to deliver personalized health management services and more precisely detect fiscal leakage and fraudulent claims.

Kang brings broad experience in both clinical settings and public administration, having served as standing vice president of the Korean Medical Association, director of the Giheung District Health Center in Yongin, standing executive director for benefits at the NHIS, and president of the Korea Public Tissue Bank.

Her three-year term runs from Monday through July 19, 2029.