Gyeonggi-do Significantly Expands Support for Pregnant Women, Women of Childbearing Age, and Infants

Gyeonggi Province will expand maternal and child health projects to support pregnant women, women of childbearing age, and infants in response to low birth rates.

Starting this month, Gyeonggi Province announced on the 1st that it will completely abolish income eligibility criteria for five projects: ▲support for maternal and newborn health management ▲medical expense support for high-risk pregnant women ▲medical expense support for premature and congenitally abnormal infants ▲congenital hearing loss screening and hearing aid support ▲support for detailed developmental examination costs for infants and young children.

The support for maternal and newborn health management involves partially subsidizing costs so that families with newborns can receive home visit services such as newborn care, cleaning, and laundry.

Medical expense support for high-risk pregnant women provides up to 3 million KRW per person (90% of the out-of-pocket expenses), medical expense support for premature infants ranges from 3 million to 10 million KRW, and for congenitally abnormal infants, 5 million KRW is provided. Congenital hearing loss screening and hearing aid support covers up to 70,000 KRW for diagnostic tests and up to 2.62 million KRW for hearing aids. Support for detailed developmental examination costs for infants and young children ranges from 200,000 to 400,000 KRW, each according to the respective details.

Additionally, Gyeonggi Province will abolish the residency requirement for the infertility couple treatment support project (previously requiring residence in Gyeonggi Province for at least 6 months as of the application date if income exceeded 180% of the median standard income) starting January.

Gyeonggi Province supports infertility treatment costs ranging from 200,000 to 1.1 million KRW per session depending on the type of procedure and age. This change resolves delays in treatment for infertile households moving into Gyeonggi Province.

Furthermore, from April, two new projects will be launched: support for assisted reproductive technology using frozen eggs (1 million KRW per session, up to 2 sessions per couple) and pre-pregnancy health management support (pilot projects in some cities and counties providing fertility examination costs of 50,000 to 100,000 KRW).

Including these expansions, Gyeonggi Province will invest a total budget of 161.6 billion KRW, an increase of 14.5 billion KRW compared to the previous year, across 23 maternal and child health projects to support pregnant women, women of childbearing age, and infants. Consultations and applications for Gyeonggi Province’s maternal and child health projects can be made at the public health centers in the applicant’s jurisdiction.

Yu Young-cheol, Director of the Gyeonggi Provincial Health and Wellness Bureau, stated, "The total fertility rate in the third quarter (July to September) last year recorded an all-time low of 0.70, and as of the end of November last year, the number of births in Gyeonggi Province was 65,424, a decrease of 6,125 compared to the same period the previous year. Since active policies to address low birth rates are necessary, we will continue to remove barriers such as income criteria and residency restrictions as much as possible and expand support for maternal and infant health."