1.34 Million Foreign Subscribers, Will Free Riding on Health Insurance Disappear? ... Amendment Bill Under Discussion

2022 Health Insurance Key Statistics Released
National Assembly Discusses Bill to Strengthen Foreigners' Enrollment Conditions

As the National Assembly discusses amendments to the National Health Insurance Act to prevent 'free riding' on health insurance by foreigners, it has been revealed that the number of foreigners enrolled in the National Health Insurance (NHI) last year increased by 6.2% compared to the previous year, reaching 1.34 million.

According to the '2022 National Health Insurance Key Statistics' released by the National Health Insurance Service on the 27th, the population covered by health insurance last year was 51.41 million. The number of workplace subscribers was 36.633 million, a 1.5% decrease from the previous year, while regional subscribers increased by 3.8% to 14.777 million.

Among them, the number of foreigners covered by health insurance is on the rise. The number of overseas Koreans and foreign subscribers was 1,343,172, a 6.2% increase from the previous year. Foreign workplace subscribers increased by 5.2% to 725,843, and regional subscribers increased by 7.4% to 617,329.

The photo shows a banner related to the amendment of the Health Insurance Government Support Act installed at the Jongno branch of the National Health Insurance Service in Seoul on the afternoon of August 30 last year.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Currently, the National Assembly is discussing an amendment to the National Health Insurance Act that would strengthen the eligibility criteria for foreigners to be dependents under health insurance to 'a stay of six months after entry' in order to prevent free riding on health insurance by foreigners.

According to data on foreign health insurance subscribers from the National Health Insurance Service on the 13th, the financial balance for foreign subscribers recorded a surplus of 556 billion KRW last year. However, when looking specifically at Chinese nationals, they received more benefits than the insurance premiums they paid, resulting in a deficit of 22.9 billion KRW last year.

As of the end of last year, the number of Chinese nationals enrolled in health insurance was 568,506, with 110,753 dependents (58.3%). This is 11 times the number of dependents from Vietnam (7,514), which has the second highest number of dependents.