SEOUL, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's cancer treatment costs topped 9 trillion won (almost 8 billion U.S. dollars) last year amid the rising number of cancer patients and the wider coverage by the national health insurance service, a report showed Monday.
About 9.01 trillion won was spent in 2018 to treat cancer patients, accounting for 11.6 percent of the total medical expense covered by the country's public health insurance program, according to the report by the National Health Insurance Service and the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service.
The number of those undergoing cancer treatment in 2018 was 1,477,252, sending the average per-capita treatment cost to 6.1 million won (5,250 U.S. dollars).
Amid the aging population, the number of those diagnosed with cancer kept growing last year, the report said.
The wider coverage of expensive cancer drugs by the national health insurance service also contributed to the rise in cancer treatment costs.
The number of patients newly diagnosed with cancer last year was 313,507.
Among the total, the type of cancer the biggest percentage of the patients suffered was thyroid cancer with 31,891, followed by stomach cancer with 30,117, lung cancer with 28,423, colorectal cancer with 28,360, breast cancer with 26,328, prostate gland cancer with 19,376, and liver cancer with 18,642.
South Korea became an aged society in 2017 as the percentage of those aged 65 or higher topped 14 percent of the total population.
