To Exempt Health Insurance Premiums... Overseas Stay of '3 Months or More' Required
[Asia Economy Reporter Hyun-ui Cho] Starting next month, to be exempted from health insurance premiums due to overseas departure, one must stay abroad for at least 3 months. This measure aims to prevent cases where people abuse the system that exempts health insurance premiums from the month following the departure date until their return, thereby avoiding premium payments. In particular, it is expected that the 'premium avoidance' tactics of high-net-worth individuals whose health insurance premiums reach 2 to 3 million KRW per month will largely disappear.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that the partial amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the National Health Insurance Act containing these details was approved at the Cabinet meeting on the 30th. The amended enforcement decree will apply to subscribers departing from July 8. This amendment sets the overseas stay period for which health insurance premiums are exempted to be at least one month, as stipulated by the revision of the National Health Insurance Act that requires the period to be determined by Presidential Decree. According to the delegated authority of the law, the amended enforcement decree defines the overseas stay period exempt from health insurance premiums as 3 months.
Until now, when departing abroad, health insurance premiums did not have to be paid from the month following the departure month until the time of return. Premium exemption was granted not only for overseas work but also for travel. The exemption period was only one month, which led to controversies over abuse of the system’s loophole by traveling to avoid paying health insurance premiums.
According to the National Health Insurance Service, from 2016 to 2018, the number of people who stayed abroad without paying health insurance premiums but still received health insurance benefits reached 228,481. The amount of money spent from the health insurance fund during the same period was 41.999 billion KRW. More than 10 billion KRW of health insurance expenditure has been leaking annually.
Cases of high-net-worth individuals, whose health insurance premiums reach 2 to 3 million KRW per month, traveling abroad to avoid paying premiums are also expected to improve. There have been issues raised about the so-called 'health insurance premium tech,' where individuals return after the premium assessment date to receive hospital treatment and then depart again before paying premiums. However, these individuals will now have to pay premiums when receiving health insurance benefits such as medical treatment in Korea. A Ministry of Health and Welfare official stated, "We expect that with this amendment to the enforcement decree, health insurance premiums will be more reasonably imposed on those staying abroad."
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