
South Korea’s elderly population - those aged 65 or older - together spent almost 20 trillion won ($17 billion) for medical treatment last year, accounting for 36.7 percent of the total medical expenses of all Koreans in 2014, government data showed. According to data, Korea’s elderly citizens accounted for 11.9 percent of the entire Korean population as of last year. In 2014, a single elderly person on average spent 3.39 million won for medical expenses throughout the year, which was three times more than the average annual medical expenses of a single Korean patient, which was 1.08 million won. The medical expenses of the elderly increased by 220 percent from 2007-2014. The largest amount of 2.5 trillion won was spent to treat essential hypertension - the form of high blood pressure that does not have a known cause. The second and third largest amounts, 1.4 trillion won and 1.3 trillion won, were spent to treat chronic kidney conditions and non-insulin-dependent diabetes.
1. reach = (특정 수준・속도 등에) 이르다[달하다]
2. account for = (부분·비율을) 차지하다
3. as of = (계기가 특정 수치・양을) 보여주다[기록하다]