In a sports game, a referee takes over the game from time to time. When the set rules are not applied fairly, the players would naturally dispute over the biased refereeing.

Such is the case for South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) regarding the National Health Insurance (NHI). Recently, MOHW convened a general meeting for the Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee (HIPDC) and ultimately decided to narrow the coverage on the controversial substance, choline alfoscerate.

When the revised administrative notice is preannounced within this month, the coverage would only apply to dementia patients from September and patients with other diseases would have to pay for