The case is exceptional enough to be reported. South Korean health insurance is suing three cigarette manufacturers (Phillip Morris, British American Tobacco (BAT) and KT&G, South Korea’s number one tobacco company). She lodged a complaint with the Seoul court and seeks damages in the amount of 37.3 million euros. According to the complainant, this amount is equivalent to the costs related to illnesses caused by tobacco.
Behind this complaint, it is “the future of our country and the sustainability of our health insurance system” which is at stake, believes the insurer.
The damages were assessed against government expenses incurred for patients who have been smokers for over thirty years and diagnosed with lung cancer or a type of throat cancer. These types of cancer are diseases often caused by tobacco.
This complaint against tobacco manufacturers reminds us of a precedent. In 1998 in the United States, the Master Settlement Agreement was signed between tobacco companies and 46 American states. By this amicable agreement, the tobacco industry undertakes to pay 246 billion dollars (188 billion euros) to the States, over twenty-five years, for the reimbursement of health expenses related to tobacco .
One can doubt that in the case of South Korea, the complaint succeeds favorably for the public insurer. Indeed, the country’s Supreme Court has already rejected a complaint against KT&G filed by 30 patients with lung cancer. The court considered that the cause and effect relationship between smoking and lung cancer was difficult to establish.
In South Korea, almost a quarter of the population smokes.
