NHIS 'Status of Health Insurance Subscribers and Monthly Wage-Based Premium Contributors'
High-Income Workplace Subscribers Likely to Be Corporate Executives, CEOs, or Chaebol Heads Increase
It was found that nearly 3,800 'ultra-high-income' employees earn more than 110 million KRW per month from their salary alone.
On the 29th, the office of National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee member Choi Hye-young announced, based on data titled 'Status of Health Insurance Subscribers and Monthly Wage Insurance Premium Payers (2019~2023)' received from the National Health Insurance Service, that as of October last year, there were 3,791 workplace subscribers who paid the maximum health insurance premium. Unlike taxes, health insurance is a social insurance, so no matter how high one’s income or assets are, the premium does not increase beyond the maximum limit.
The health insurance premium paid by employees is divided into the 'monthly wage insurance premium' imposed on monthly salaries received as compensation for labor (calculated by dividing the total annual wage by the number of months worked) and the 'monthly income insurance premium (non-wage premium)' imposed on other income besides salary, such as comprehensive taxable income (including interest, dividends, rental income, etc.). The premium ceiling is adjusted annually and applied for one year, linked to 30 times the average insurance premium of employees two years prior to the year the premium is imposed (15 times for regional subscribers), reflecting socioeconomic changes such as wage increases, according to Article 32 of the Enforcement Decree of the National Health Insurance Act.
For 2023, the monthly wage insurance premium ceiling was 7,822,560 KRW. Converted to salary, this amounts to 110.33 million KRW per month. Since the monthly wage insurance premium is split evenly between the company and the employee, the actual maximum amount borne by the employee was 3,911,280 KRW per month, nearly 4 million KRW.
Judging from the health insurance premiums, most ultra-high-income workplace subscribers earning over 110 million KRW per month from salary alone are likely owners of large or small and medium-sized enterprises, executives, professional CEOs, or chaebol heads. This represents approximately 0.00019% of all workplace subscribers excluding dependents, totaling 19,908,769 as of October 2023.
Meanwhile, this year’s monthly wage insurance premium ceiling was raised by 658,860 KRW from last year’s 7,822,560 KRW to 8,481,420 KRW per month. The maximum monthly premium borne by the employee is expected to be about 4.24 million KRW. This decision will remain in effect until December of this year.
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