보건의료전문가 출신 국회의원이 보건의료정책 형성에 미친 영향에 관한 연구

Abstract

In most democratic countries, influential professional interest groups often become a part of the iron triangle in the policy making process. One of the typical methods by which professional interest groups participate in policy making process may be by having interest group members in the national assembly, who are sympathetic to the group, implementing policies through legislation. In this study we found that from the Constitutional National Assembly through the 18th National Assembly, 147 members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea have been ex health care professionals. The research analyzed the roles of these members in health care law amendments as requested by the professional organizations. This study analyzed 11 major cases that involved nullification or amendment of legislations in favor of the healthcare profession, against the basic policies of the government. The study showed that in the 11 major cases, policies were amended in the direction intended by the National Assembly members and other organizations with similar interests, which was against the policy stance of the government. However, these cases did not unilaterally imply that the National Assembly has been captured by the interest groups through the legislators with health care professional background; rather, they should be perceived to be influenced by the exhibited loss of governability by the government in respect to healthcare policy decisions, loss of initiative due to lack of controllability, and reversals and inconsistencies of the policies.