18%p lower than the OECD average of 72.7%. 94 Although the proportion of people in absolute poverty in Korea is above 7%, the share of medical benefit recipients is merely 3% of total population as in 2013, according to the National Health Insurance Service’s statistical data on medical benefits. According to the National Health Insurance Service’s ‘2012 Survey on Medical Costs of Insured Patients’, the share of out-of-pocket payments in total medical costs was still high even in the case of medical benefit recipients: it was rated at 5.9% for the medical benefit recipients of Class 1 and 7.6% for the recipients of Class 2. In reality, this is more than they can afford to pay. Considering that medical security is the largest and the most-wanted welfare needs of poor people, it is urgent that the Government should take actions, in the on-going process of reforming the NBSL scheme, to increase the coverage of medical benefits and the scope of beneficiaries. 95. It is observed that, when the ROK faced a serious and far-reaching threat to public health, for instance, due to the outbreak of MERS in 2015, the Government failed to take proper and timely reactions. It is important to establish drastic policy measures to ensure right reactions in the event of public health emergency at national level. 96. It is reported that there is a wide gap between urban and rural areas, in terms of the guarantee of the right to health. Some of the general hospitals run by local governments have been closed or privatized, due to the problem of budget shortage. Some criticize that the Government is not providing sufficient support to these local hospitals. Questions suggested 97. Please explain why the NHI coverage rate has decreased or remained unchanged even though the ‘2014~2018 Mid-term Plan to Increase Coverage of the NHI’ is in progress now, and specify 0how to make use of the surpluses of the NHI fund. In particular, please specify the current situations on the programmes to subsidize medical costs of the people in absolute poverty, along with the Government’s plans in this regard. 98. Please specify the policy measures that the Government has taken in relation to catastrophic medical costs, the effects and limitations of these policy measures, and the Government’s plan to further improve the situation. 99. If the State Party has established a specific reaction manual which is designed to address any public health crisis at national level, please submit the manual. 100. Please specify the policy measures that the Government has taken at national level to address the gap in the enjoyment of right to health between urban and rural areas and between the Seoul metropolitan area and other regional areas, along with its plan for future years. Issue 18: Right to Enjoy Culture Current status 101. According to the ‘2015 Digital Divide Survey’ conducted by the National Information Society Agency, the digital divide, as was measured by the PC-based information access level, between vulnerable groups (persons with disabilities, low-income households, farmers and fishermen, and late middle-aged and older persons) and non-vulnerable groups, has been narrowed. More precisely, in 2004 when the Survey was conducted for the first time, the composite digital divide index of vulnerable groups stood only at 45% of the 23 / 25