After 1996, Korean NHI began to develop significant deficits (Figure 1). From 1996 to the present, total health expenditures have exceeded total income. During the economic crisis of 1997, when the Korean economy was controlled by the IMF, NHI's financial deficit grew worse. In addition, the financial structure of Korean NHI was disrupted by the separation of reimbursement for medical care and reimbursement for pharmaceutical services in July 2000. Although government continually raised the mandatory insurance premiums to make up for the deficit, many health policy experts predicted that increased governmental funding would not solve the problem.