Hit by the earlier East Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, and later by the global recession in 2006, South Korean society has suffered from health-deteriorating effects of global socioeconomic changes. In this article, authors review existing literatures on economic crisis and its relationship with health and examine health status, health equity, healthcare utilization and social protection statistics of South Korea to identify the evidence of economic crisis’s impact on South Korean health and health care. We also review a sirese the recent reforms in South Korean health policies and legislations during the same period to understand the policy response to changing population health status and inequality. In conclusion authors emphasize the importance of health politics to counteract the increasing health inequity in South Korea and achieve “Health for All.”