Disability policies have over the years progressed in such a way that the government is increasingly held responsible for ensuring the wellbeing of individuals with disabilities, with disability expenditures as a share of GDP growing remarkably over the two decades to 2022, from 0.41 percent to 0.70 percent. However, Korea’s spending on its disabled population still falls significantly behind compared to some other advanced countries. Aligned with the 47th of its 120 National Agenda items, to wit, 'Making Korea a Discrimination-Free Society through Integrated Customized Support for Persons with Disabilities,' the current government has established core policy objectives aimed at addressing disability issues. In March 2023, the current government announced the 6th Comprehensive Policy Plan for Persons with Disabilities. As this national plan has set ‘realization of equality’ and ‘quality-of-life enhancement’ for persons with disabilities as its overarching policy goals and 'integrated customized support' as the means for achieving them, it is important to examine ongoing government efforts, assess whether these goals are attainable through current approaches, and identify further steps to improve the living conditions of disabled persons. In this issue of the Health and Welfare Forum, we address key policies that concern the wellbeing of individual disabled persons, especially as regards the practice of delivering health and social services to them. We are concerned primarily with examining how much progress has been made with the personal budget scheme and integrated care for persons with severe disabilities as national projects. We also delve into how the case stands with the activity assistance program, which represents services intended for persons with disabilities, and seek ways for its improvement. Additionally, we here take occasion to scrutinize the current status of other ongoing policy measures that are of significant interest to the disability community, among them the Health Care Management Plan for Persons with Disabilities, a policy framework for expanding support for disabled individuals, and discuss ways to improve them.

Activity Assistance Services for people with disabilities (AASPD) aims to provide activity support to individuals with disabilities for whom it is difficult to make it through daily living on their own, thereby alleviating the burden on their families. Modeled on the ‘independent living paradigm’ since its inception in Korea, AASPD places emphasis on the normalization of individuals with disabilities through enhancing user choice, control, and self-determination. In terms of expenditure, AASPD has rapidly expanded in the past 10 years. However, there remain areas needing improvement in terms of the use and provision of the services. Individuals with disabilities call for care services that are attuned to their needs. AASPD needs enhancement in its quality so that it can better serve to achieve the objectives it was first created to accomplish: supporting individuals with disabilities in their daily living activities and easing the caregiving burden on their families. In light of the public attention revolving in the wake of COVID-19 around the need for a shift to “care state” and the growing demand for the improvement of the quality of daily activities assistance services as one of the current government’s national agenda items, this author examines in this article the state of affairs of AASPD and discuss its challenges and policy options for moving forward.

A personal budget scheme for disabled people, modeled after its North American and European precursors, is on track for implementation in 2026 in Korea as a national agenda item for the current government. The objective of this article is to take a survey of the pilot projects that lead up to the implementation of the personal budget scheme and identify areas that need improvement. I review the key components of personal budgets and examine examples of early practices carried on by private-sector providers as part of the pilot projects. Among the core principles underlying personal budgets are self-direction and flexibility in service utilization. The personal budget scheme as it stands, however, does not come close to allowing individuals to self-direct their service use. This article points to the need for enhancing the workforce and providers involved, educating users, securing a sufficient supply of benefits, and strengthening the overall infrastructure.

A great deal of attention has been focused on the integrated care scheme for individuals with profound developmental disabilities, scheduled for implementation this June. The slated program has been a source of confusion and practical concern not only because there has been limited available information about it but also because it is set to proceed to implementation without pilot trials. These concerns revolve around how the program will be implemented and run, given the current state of affairs, which lacks even a clear definition of profound developmental disability. This article clarifies what constitutes profound developmental disabilities, for which the integrated care program is intended, as well as provides an overview of the program, including its progress toward implementation and its guiding principles and distinctive features. I also identify what needs to be done for the scheme following its implementation in hopes that improvements will be embodied in its quality so that persons with profound developmental disabilities and their families can lead happy, normal lives in their communities.

In this article, I aim to discuss the 1st Comprehensive Health Care Management Plan for People with Disabilities, set to be implemented in the second half of this year, pursuant to Article 6 of the Act on Guarantee of Right to Health and Access to Medical Services for People with Disabilities. Specifically, I will discuss the plan’s main objectives, the principles by which the plan is being made, how far it is into development, the process of expert involvement in its making, the deliverables, and prospects beyond. This article is a reworked summary of A Study of the Comprehensive Health Care Management Plan for People with Disabilities, a research I conducted in 2023 for the Korea National Rehabilitation Center Research Institute.