Healthcare Legislation Cases in the National Assembly Petition System: Focused on Petitions to the Health and Welfare Committee of the 13th National Assembly through the 20th Assembly

Ryu, Chang Ug

Abstract

The right to petition is a classical right of the people in constitutional states, and in Korea, it is a statutory right in the Constitution, the National Assembly Law, the Petition Law, and the Local Autonomy Act. The healthcare community first made a successful petition to the National Assembly when it achieved the amendment of the Government Organization Act through a petition to the National Assembly for the independence of the Ministry of Health, and this achievement served as the basis for further petitions. Since then, the healthcare community has successfully achieved the enactment and amendment of related occupational laws through National Assembly petitions, such as the amendment of Article 41, Paragraph 7 of the former Medical Insurance Act (Korean Medical Association, 14th Assembly), enactment of the Dental Health Act (Korean Dental Association, 15th Assembly), and amendment of the Health Functional Foods Act (Korea Pharmaceutical Association, 16th Assembly). Its petition accomplishment rate is higher than the total petition accomplishment rate of the Health and Welfare Committee of the National Assembly. However, along with the overall decrease in the number of National Assembly petitions, the Korean Medical Association and Korea Pharmaceutical Association have not achieved any results through petitioning since the 16th Assembly (June 2000), and the Korean Hospital Association and Korean Nurses Association have not achieved any results through petitioning since the 17th Assembly (April 2004). Furthermore, no National Assembly petitions have been made at all for 5 years (2014-2018). The Korean Medical Association and Korea Pharmaceutical Association previously showed a high petition accomplishment rate through their accumulated experience with National Assembly petitions and vigorous policy assistance from doctors/pharmacists/nurses turned lawmakers. More specifically, healthcare organizations have achieved results by actively conducting organized activities with the National Assembly, as implemented by a national assembly director and employees, and in case of petitions for legislation, each group has established infrastructure for reviewing the relevant laws by appointing a legislative director, as well as a legal advisor and advisory counsel. Although the organization that has submitted the most petitions to the National Assembly is the Korean Hospital Association, the group with the highest petition success rate is the Korean Medical Association, which may be linked to the relatively high proportion of doctors who have become lawmakers. Furthermore, the fact that other healthcare organizations were highly interested in petitioning the National Assembly has had major implications for the petition activities of healthcare organizations.