‘Matter of survival’: The president who wants to help fund hair loss treatment

South Korea’s well-coiffed president is on a mission to help the country’s balding residents.

In his crosshairs: the national health insurance scheme, which he suggests should foot the bill for hair loss treatments.

President Lee Jae Myung made the suggestion to officials at a briefing on this week, arguing that medical treatments for hair loss used to be seen as “cosmetic”, but now they are viewed as “a matter of survival”.

South Korea’s national health insurance currently covers treatments for hair loss caused by medical conditions. But it excludes people with hereditary hair loss because that does not threaten someone’s life, health minister Jeong Eun-kyeong explained at the meeting on Tuesday.

“Is it just a matter of whether to define hereditary disease as a disease?” Lee asked in response.

Lee’s proposal has earned him praise among social media users, one of whom called him the “best president in history”.

But not everyone is as enthused – not even those who stand to benefit from subsidised hair loss treatment.

The move feels “a bit like a vote-grabbing policy”, says Song Ji-hoon, a 32-year-old Seoul resident who takes hair loss medication.

“Saving money sounds nice, but honestly it costs less than 300,000 won ($200) a year, so… is it even necessary?”

In South Korea, a country notorious for its strict beauty standards, baldness comes with a stigma that can prove especially troubling for young people.

Out of 240,000 people in the country who visited hospitals for hair loss last year, 40% were in their 20s or 30s, according to authorities.

“My fringe keeps receding and won’t stay up, so I can’t get a perm or use wax properly,” says Lee Won-woo, 33, who lives in North Chungcheong province.

“Because I can’t style my hair the way I want, I end up thinking I look unkempt and unattractive, and that has seriously eroded my confidence.”

Mr Lee says while he would be “thankful” for subsidised hair-loss drugs, “the national health insurance system is already running a deficit and struggling financially”.

“This is not a situation where money can just be handed out,” he says.

And balding, he notes, is a “cosmetic issue”.

“It’s a natural part of ageing, not an illness or a disease,” he says. “I understand the emotional pain, but that doesn’t change the reality.”

South Korea’s national health insurance scheme, which faced a record deficit of 11.4 trillion Korean won ($7.7bn; £5.8bn) last year, is set to be further stressed by its ageing population.

To address the financial burden hair loss treatments would cause to the system, President Lee said on Tuesday that authorities could impose coverage limits.

But some critics argue priority should be given to helping more vulnerable members of society.

The Korean Medical Association said in a statement on Wednesday that government funds should go to more serious diseases before hair loss. Social media users are similarly pointing to bigger social woes – such as South Korea’s high suicide rate and misogyny faced by women.

“In a country where people bristle and react hysterically when there are calls to cover sanitary pads … or breast cancer medication under national health insurance, announcing that hair-loss drugs will be covered would honestly feel like a bad joke,” one person wrote on X.

“If hair loss truly becomes something that determines survival in a society, then changing that society should be the role of politics,” wrote another.

This may seem like an unlikely crusade for the president, but the proposal to insure hair loss treatment was a rallying cry in Lee’s unsuccessful 2022 presidential campaign.

Back then, Lee and his team gathered feedback from people struggling with hair loss and even starred in a viral parody of a hair loss commercial – a move that proved popular among some voters.

But critics accused Lee of using gimmicks to draw young male voters, who were backing his conservative opponent in large numbers on a rising tide of anti-feminism.

Lee lost the 2022 election. This year, he ran again and won, but his messages about hair loss treatment were cut from the campaign.

“There is no reason he needs to be bound by the promise this time,” says Don S Lee, an associate professor of political science at Korea University – though he added that the president may be trying to “expand his base of supporters” for the upcoming local elections in mid-2026.

Since becoming president, Lee has put a clear focus on the country’s youth, many of whom face intense competition and bleak economic prospects.

On Tuesday, Lee also suggested adding obesity drugs to the national health insurance scheme, arguing that young people felt “increasingly ostracised” from the scheme because its benefits were not tailored towards their needs.

Dr Lee, the politics professor, is sceptical as to how serious the president actually is about bringing hair loss treatment under national health insurance coverage.

“Personally, I doubt President Lee will carry on this issue and take further action,” he says.

“It’s just a very strategic gesture targeting young male voters, signalling that ‘I am also caring about you’.”