• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.227-261
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• 2015

Cooperative associations are established in order to enhance the rights and the interests of their members and serve the local communities, and actually do much for the local society. And among these, consumer cooperatives are spontaneously founded, particularly in the spirit of mutual help, in order to promote the common welfare of the members. Meanwhile, because the current medical law qualifys noncommercial corporation to open medical institution, consumer cooperative and noncommercial- corporation cooperative which are established under the Cooperative Act have the right to do. However, though cooperative association should be founded for common interests of the members who are weaker parties of society, it became rapidly to be abused as means of circumvention of law. Especially as National Health Insurance Corporation stepped up the investigation and the collection of unfair profits against the hospital owned by non-medical personnel who are unable to establish a medical institution, setting up medical institutions as a roundabout way to avoid the restricts dramatically increased in number. In this study, we are going to introduce the current dualised normative system regulating the establishment of a medical cooperative association, and find a way to improve the system and make up for the week points. And we will look though the present situation about medical cooperative association's opening, operating, and closing, and review the normative and systematic improving plans.