Traditional Medicine in China, Korea, and Japan: A Brief Introduction and Comparison

Table 3

Medical insurance and herbal drug monitoring systems of traditional medicine in China (including the Taiwan region), Korea, and Japan.

Country	Mainland China	Taiwan region	Korea	Japan
Medical insurance
Insurance system	NHI and commercial insurance	NHI	NHI	8 kinds of health insurance
Type	Public (NHI) and Private (commercial insurance)	Public	Public	Public
Year TM implemented	1951^a	1995	1987	1976 (for Kampo)
Reimbursable items
Acupuncture	⬤	⬤	⬤	▲
Moxibustion	⬤	⬤	⬤	▲
Cupping	⬤	Data not available	⬤	X
Herbal medicines (Kampo in Japan)	▲	▲	▲	⬤
Manual therapies	⬤	⬤	▲^b	▲^c
Proportion (%, TM reimbursement/total reimbursement*100)	Data not available	5.59 (2009)	4.04 (2009)	Data not available
Herbal drug monitoring systems
Administration structure	MOH and SFDA	CCMP of DOH	KFDA	MHLW and PMDA
Is the country a member of the WHO Programme?	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Are herbal and Western drugs monitored separately?	No	Yes	No	No
No. of ADR reports for herbal drugs (%, TM reporting/total reporting*100)	14~15	Data not available^d	2~3^d	2.23

ADR: adverse drug reaction; CCMP: Committee on Chinese Medicine and Pharmacy; DOH: Department of Health; KFDA: Korea Food and Drug Administration; MHLW: Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare; MOH: Ministry of Health; NHI: National Health Insurance; PMDA: Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency; SFDA: State Food and Drug Administration; TM: Traditional Medicine
⬤: Completely covered, ▲: partially covered, X: not covered.
^aMedical insurance coverage of TCM was implemented in all insurance systems from the beginning of new China in 1951. In 1999, the new NHI system was established, and TCM remained an important element.
^bIn Korea, manual therapies (Chuna) are covered by car insurance in the event of an accident, not by NHI.
^cIn Japan, massage therapy is covered when performed in hospital.
^dIn total, 507 ADRs to herbal drugs were reported from August 2001 to November 2005, but the relevant data could not be obtained for the Taiwan region, and an estimated number was presented in Korea.