Medical spending on smoking, drinking, obesity-related diseases soars

Medical spending on smoking, drinking and obesity-related illnesses reached 6.7 trillion won in 2011, which accounted for 14 percent of the total medical spending, a state-run think tank reported on March 4.

According to the Health Insurance Policy Research Institute affiliated with the National Health Insurance Service, medical expenditures for smoking-related diseases jumped 48.7 percent from some 1.05 trillion won (US$969 million) in 2007 to more than 1.56 trillion won in 2011.

The amount of money spent on treatment for drinking-related illnesses soared 42.7 percent to 2.43 trillion won during the same period, the report said.

Medical spending on obesity-related diseases totaled 2.69 trillion won in 2011, up 41.9 percent from four years earlier, it said.

By Ayaka Erin Tobari

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com