Only Entering the Country When Visiting Hospitals... Health Insurance 'Free Riding' Ends Tomorrow

Strengthened Residency Requirements for Foreigners Starting from the 3rd
Must Reside for Over 6 Months to Qualify as Dependent
Expected Annual Savings of 12.1 Billion Won

From the 3rd, foreigners and overseas Koreans must reside in the country for more than six months to qualify as dependents of workplace health insurance subscribers. Currently, dependents who do not pay insurance premiums can enter Korea and immediately receive medical services. There have been numerous cases of health insurance 'free riding' exploiting this loophole, and this measure aims to prevent that. The estimated annual financial savings for health insurance through this measure is expected to reach 12.1 billion KRW.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Health Insurance Service on the 2nd, foreigners and overseas Koreans entering the country must reside domestically for more than six months to qualify as dependents. Park Min-su, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated at a briefing on the 27th of last month, "Until now, dependents of foreign subscribers could register as health insurance dependents without residing in Korea for a certain period, allowing them to easily use medical services without paying premiums, which led to abuse of this system." He added, "Except for spouses and minor children, parents, siblings, and others must reside for more than six months to be registered as health insurance dependents, and the system has been improved accordingly." This amendment to the National Health Insurance Act was revised in January this year and will take effect from the 3rd.

Until now, if certain income, property, and support criteria set by the health insurance authorities were met, both domestic workplace subscribers and foreigners working for companies based in Korea could register their family members as dependents without discrimination. However, in the case of foreigners and overseas Koreans, it has been difficult to verify whether they meet these income and property requirements. As a result, some foreign workplace subscribers have registered relatives such as parents and siblings living abroad as dependents and only entered Korea temporarily when necessary to receive treatment, surgery, and other health insurance benefits, which the health insurance authorities explained as abuse cases.

Vice Minister Park pointed out, "Compared to foreign regional subscribers who must meet a six-month residency requirement to enroll in health insurance, this was unfair." As of the end of 2022, there were 1.32 million foreign health insurance subscribers, of which 680,000 were Chinese nationals, accounting for 52%.