National Human Rights Commission of Korea Annual Report 2021 special contributors to get lesser treatment than recognized refugees, the Commission concluded that the proposed provision on application of regulations on recognized refugee treatment be modified so that it clearly stipulates that all applicable laws, including the Refugee Act, be applied. L. ‌Opinion expressed on delayed listing of new life-saving leukemia medication for health insurance coverage On November 30, the Commission expressed opinion to the Minister of Health and Welfare that institutional arrangements be made for prompt inclusion of new life-saving drugs on the list of drugs covered by the health insurance. One such arrangement would be enabling patients to benefit from new life-saving drugs at provisional prices, with health insurance coverage, as soon as they come to the market after Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approval. Regarding a petition (21-jinjeong-0714500) that the Ministry of Health and Welfare infringed upon the right to pursue happiness and the right to life of victims desperately in need of treatment by excluding Kymriah, a medication to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia, from national health insurance coverage and not acting promptly to put it on the health insurance coverage list, the Commission dismissed it on the ground that specialty drug payment criteria is an area of highly specialized expertise and, as such, it is inappropriate for it to investigate and decide on this matter. However, the Commission was of the view that it is a matter of the state to resolve the problem of new life-saving drugs with proven safety and efficacy being priced at levels beyond a patient’s reach, and to do so, the government should seriously consider victims’ request that the drugs be promptly listed for national health insurance coverage in the spirit of safeguarding people’s basic rights to life and happiness. Also, considering that the right to life, which the national health insurance stands for, is the most basic of the fundamental human rights as it is a prerequisite for all other basic human rights under the Constitution, the Commission concluded that the government should positively consider ways to promptly list new life-saving drugs for national health insurance coverage, and thus expressed the above opinion in accordance with Paragraph 1, Article 25 of the NHRCK Act. 62