Community Healthcare Cooperatives in Korea: Caring for Daily Life
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| In 2024, Korea’s medical welfare cooperatives celebrated their 30th anniversary with a commemorative event. Pictured: the anniversary ceremony. (Photo by Milly) |
In a previous post, I wrote about how social economy organizations play a vital role in realizing community-based integrated care. Among them, one of the most notable examples is the medical-welfare social cooperative, which I briefly mentioned. In this post, I’d like to take a closer look at what these cooperatives do.
๐Providing “Healthy Care” for Local Residents
As Korea transitions into a super-aged society, there is growing awareness of the need to move beyond hospital-centered care and instead build systems that allow older adults to age in place—within the communities they know and love. In fact, Korea plans to implement the Integrated Care Support Act in 2026, which has sparked public sector discussions about how to provide care services more efficiently.
In this context, medical-welfare social cooperatives—one of Korea’s leading models of social economy organizations—are gaining attention for their work in delivering a wide range of local, community-based care services. These cooperatives, formerly referred to simply as “health cooperatives,” changed their name in May 2025 to reflect a broader vision that integrates both medical and social care. From here on, I’ll refer to them as medical-welfare cooperatives.
One of the defining features of these cooperatives is their focus on building strong, neighborhood-level care networks and offering tailored services that respond to the needs of individual residents. Their top priority is to enhance both the health and quality of life of their members and their communities.
๐A Community-Based System that Integrates Health and Care
The first medical-welfare cooperative in Korea was established in 1994, and in 2024, these organizations marked their 30th anniversary. Today, about 30 such cooperatives operate across the country. While each one adapts to the specific needs and characteristics of its local area, they share several common goals:
๐Securing the public value of health and care services
๐Building collaboration between healthcare professionals and local citizens
๐Promoting self-care, mutual care, and community-based care
Most cooperatives operate as primary healthcare providers, offering services in high-demand areas like family medicine, dentistry, and traditional Korean medicine. They also organize small health communities and wellness programs—such as walking groups and light exercise classes. For elderly residents who are unable to travel, they offer home care services and connect them to local welfare resources.
By integrating medical and social care in this way, these cooperatives help create systems that allow older adults to age healthily and independently in the communities where they have always lived.
๐Shifting from Facility-Based to Community-Based Care
In the past, aging in Korea often meant moving into a nursing home to spend one’s final years. But that model is changing. More and more, people are seeking ways to stay in their homes and neighborhoods, continuing their daily routines while receiving the care they need.
Medical-welfare cooperatives are central to this shift. While hospitals focus on treating illness, these cooperatives build relationships and design systems that support holistic, everyday well-being. They work with residents to build trust-based, community-rooted health systems that support both the individual and the collective.
๐Final Thoughts
As the new Integrated Care Support Act comes into effect next year, these cooperatives are likely to play an even more prominent role. But for that to happen, both institutional support from the government and active participation from citizens will be essential.
Whether it's for our parents or for ourselves, we all want to grow old in the neighborhoods where we feel most at home. For that to be possible, we need organizations like medical-welfare cooperatives in every community. I hope more of them will be established across the country so that anyone in need of care can access warm, appropriate, and reliable services—right where they live.
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