Severe Burn Treatment and Skin Graft Cost Calculator
This calculator estimates the out-of-pocket cost of severe burn treatment and skin grafting in Korea and keeps the same pure calculation model as the Korean page. Severe burns (deep second-degree, third-degree, and fourth-degree) are treated in stages: early debridement and escharotomy, split-thickness and full-thickness autologous skin grafts (STSG and FTSG), artificial dermis and cultured skin grafting for wide burns, and late scar and contracture reconstruction. On 2026 Korean rules the model applies the severe-burn special-case copay (5 percent for 1 year), the burn intensive care unit (BICU) covered add-on, staged multi-session grafting, the annual out-of-pocket ceiling, private indemnity, and the medical expense tax credit, so you can see how a headline bill of tens of millions of won falls to the real patient share.
Burn depth and total body surface area (TBSA) drive the cost
Two variables decide the bill: depth determines whether skin grafting is required, and area (TBSA) determines how long the admission runs and whether the severe-burn special case applies. Superficial second-degree burns usually re-epithelialize without grafting, deep second-degree burns may scar and need grafting, third-degree (full-thickness) burns always require grafting, and fourth-degree burns reaching fascia, muscle, or bone need reconstruction or flaps.
Area is estimated with the adult "rule of nines" (head/neck 9 percent, each arm 9 percent, front torso 18 percent, back torso 18 percent, each leg 18 percent, perineum 1 percent); the patient palm equals about 1 percent for small areas. The wider the burn, the harder fluid and infection management becomes, so the BICU stay and the cost both grow.
- Second-degree burn with TBSA 20 percent or more qualifies for the severe-burn special case.
- Third-degree (or deeper) burn with TBSA 10 percent or more qualifies.
- Functional-area burns (face, hands, feet, genitals/perineum, eyes) of second degree or deeper qualify regardless of area (special code V305 when admitted).
- Inhalation (airway) injury and internal organ burns qualify regardless of area.
The severe-burn special case: 5 percent, but only for 1 year
This is the most important rule on the page. Under National Health Insurance Act Article 44, its Enforcement Decree, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare notice on special-case copay standards (2026 current version, notice 2026-101 effective 2026-05-01), a qualifying severe-burn patient pays only 5 percent of the covered fee. The rate is the same as cancer, but the duration is not: cancer registration lasts 5 years, while the severe-burn special case lasts only 1 year from the confirmation date, with limited extension.
The practical consequence: acute surgery and grafting usually happen within the first year and get the 5 percent rate, but late scar and contracture reconstruction performed more than a year after the burn can fall back to the ordinary inpatient rate of 20 percent. Register within 30 days of confirmation for retroactive application, and remember the 5 percent applies only to covered items — upper-grade room surcharges, non-covered scar care (pressure garments, scar lasers), and caregiver cost are excluded, and are also outside the out-of-pocket ceiling.
Stage-by-stage treatment and covered fees
Severe burns are treated in stages, and the model adds a covered ward fee (about KRW 100,000 per inpatient day) and a BICU add-on (about KRW 250,000 per day) to each stage. Early care is debridement (removing dead tissue) and escharotomy (cutting the thick third-degree eschar to prevent compartment syndrome), often in the burn ICU because this infection-control window decides survival.
Grafting follows: split-thickness autologous graft (STSG), the standard for severe burns because of its high take rate, and full-thickness graft (FTSG) or local flaps for the face, hands, and joints. Wide burns lack enough donor skin, so grafting is staged over several sessions as donor sites heal; the model multiplies the per-session covered fee by the number of graft sessions. When donor sites are insufficient, artificial dermis (acellular dermal matrix) or cultured skin rebuilds the wound bed before a thin epidermal autograft — artificial dermis is now covered (with the indication expanded from burns to chronic wounds, diabetic ulcers, and pressure sores, and the piece-count limit removed), so the material self-pay dropped sharply with the 5 percent rate.
- Conservative wound care (dressings, burn ointment) for mild-to-moderate burns is usually outpatient.
- Debridement/escharotomy: emergency admission, BICU-eligible, covered.
- STSG / artificial dermis: session-based; per-session covered fee times the number of grafts.
- Late scar/contracture reconstruction mixes covered function-restoring surgery with non-covered cosmetic scar work, and may lose the 5 percent rate after the 1-year window.
Out-of-pocket ceiling, indemnity, and the tax credit
Wide third-degree burns with repeated grafts and long BICU stays can push the covered self-pay above the income-decile annual ceiling (about KRW 900,000 to 8,430,000 in 2026); the excess is refunded after the fact. The 5 percent rate already cuts the burden sharply, but for the largest burns the ceiling is the final backstop, grounded in National Health Insurance Act Article 44 with the enforcement-decree annexes.
Debridement, grafting, and artificial dermis are inpatient, so private indemnity reimburses the covered self-pay (after the ceiling refund) and non-covered scar/rehabilitation care, less the generation-specific deductible; upper-grade room surcharges are usually reimbursed at 50 percent and caregiver cost is not reimbursed. The medical expense tax credit returns 15 percent of spending above 3 percent of salary, with no KRW 7,000,000 cap for special-case-registered severe patients under Income Tax Act Article 59-4, but only on the amount actually paid after indemnity and the ceiling. If the burn is work-related, it is handled by industrial accident insurance (Comwel), not NHI — check the cause first.
How to read the estimate
Pick the current treatment stage, enter burn depth and TBSA, and toggle functional-area and inhalation injury — the calculator immediately judges special-case eligibility and warns if your registration status does not match. For graft stages set the number of sessions; for acute severe care set BICU use and inpatient days. Then enter hospital level, region, insurance type, room, caregiver, indemnity generation, income decile, and ceiling application.
This is a cost-planning estimate based on 2026 Korean rules, not medical advice. Public single-price tables for burn procedures and artificial dermis/cultured skin do not exist, so figures are defensible market estimates that vary widely with burn depth, area, site, and complications such as infection and sepsis. Confirm details with the burn specialist team, the insurer, and the hospital quote.
This calculator is based on Korean rules (2026 National Health Insurance severe-burn special-case program at 5 percent for 1 year, the out-of-pocket ceiling, Income Tax Act Article 59-4 medical expense tax credit, and market cost estimates for burn debridement, autologous skin grafts, artificial dermis and cultured skin, and scar reconstruction). Figures are planning estimates, not medical advice, an insurer decision, or a hospital quote.