The Predestined Failure of the Market Mechanism in Ensuring Health for all in Times of a Pandemic: The Case of the Republic of Korea

Abstract

This article investigated South Korea's COVID-19 response through the lens of power relations, arguing that the state's overreliance on public health measures stemmed from its inability to control economic power within the medical care sector. By applying a modified version of Erik Olin Wright's theoretical framework, the study examines interactions between state, economic, and social powers across two distinct economies: public health and medical care policies. The analysis reveals that insufficient state and social power to regulate economic power in medical care necessitated stricter public health interventions. The research delineates COVID-19 response policies into two categories: public health policies for infection reduction and medical care policies for patient treatment. It demonstrates how private hospitals’ monopolistic control over the critical care resources, combined with weak social accountability mechanisms, forced the government to maintain strict social distancing measures. The study ultimately highlights the limitations of unregulated markets in medical care, emphasizing the importance of social power in directing market forces toward more equitable and effective disaster responses.