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.   😊Providing “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 cont...