Crackdown on 'Fake' Car Accident Patients: Long-Term Treatment for Minor Injuries to Undergo Review

Drivers and passengers with minor traffic accident injuries who wish to receive treatment for more than eight weeks will now be subject to a review by medical professionals.

This measure is designed to prevent excessive insurance payouts leaking to so-called "fake" patients.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that the revision to the enforcement decree of the Automobile Damage Compensation Guarantee Act passed the Cabinet meeting today (August 4) and will take effect on September 10.

The application is limited to minor injury patients suffering from sprains and bruises, while pregnant women and infants aged seven or under will be able to continue receiving treatment without the review process.

Under the new procedure, when a patient submits documents such as a medical certificate, the insurance company or automobile mutual aid association will request a review from the Korea Automobile Damage Compensation Promotion Institute (KADCI), which will then notify them of the results.

Those who disagree with the review results can apply to a government committee for a re-evaluation by medical specialists.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport expects that this institutional improvement will reduce unnecessary insurance payouts caused by over-treatment and ease the burden on insurance subscribers.

It also noted that the review process could help identify injuries that were missed during previous treatments.

The number of minor injury patients decreased at an average annual rate of 0.9 percent from 1.554 million in 2019 to 1.488 million in 2024, but medical expenses for minor injury patients increased at an average annual rate of 7.0 percent from 1 trillion won to 1.41 trillion won over the same period.

Measures have also been prepared to minimize public inconvenience resulting from the introduction of the system.

Insurance companies and mutual aid associations have decided to cover the costs of issuing review documents as well as treatment expenses until the review is completed.

Mutual aid associations will also absorb the cost of issuing medical certificates for treatment extensions.

Plans are underway to establish an electronic system for prompt reviews and to commission around 200 medical and traditional Korean medicine specialists with more than 10 years of experience at general hospitals as review committee members.

Even after the implementation, the ministry plans to analyze review results every quarter to supplement the targets and criteria for review.

Park Jun-hyung, Director General for Mobility and Automobiles at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated, "This revision to the enforcement decree aims to alleviate the public's automobile insurance premium burden and establish a proper compensation culture," adding, "We will do our utmost to effectively filter out fraudulent claimants while ensuring there is no public inconvenience caused by the system improvement."

(File Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.