'Caregiving Hell' That Uproots the Pillars of a Household... "Should Be Covered by Health Insurance" [The Era of 10 Million Elderly]③

Domestic Caregiving Cost Burden 10 Trillion Won Annually
Pilot Project for Caregiving Cost Health Insurance Coverage Launched
Full Implementation Requires 15 Trillion Won Annually

The greatest burden when the first of the so-called 'three hardships of old age' diseases strikes is caregiving. Although the treatment costs are largely covered by the National Health Insurance, caregiving for elderly patients undergoing long-term treatment involves both effort and financial issues, which can disrupt the lives of their families.

'Caregiving Hell' That Uproots the Pillars of a Household... "Should Be Covered by Health Insurance" [The Era of 10 Million Elderly]③

According to the government and the Bank of Korea on the 18th, the domestic caregiving cost burden is estimated to be around 10 trillion won annually. Hiring a caregiver costs an average of 3.7 million won per month as of last year. This is 1.6 times the median monthly income of 2.24 million won for households aged 65 and older. The number of people quitting their jobs to personally care for their parents due to inability to afford hiring caregivers is also increasing. The resulting decrease in the working population is estimated to cause a socioeconomic loss of 77 trillion won by 2042.

The government is promoting policies such as providing benefits for caregiving costs in long-term care hospitals and expanding integrated nursing and caregiving services to alleviate the so-called 'caregiving hell.'

The Ministry of Health and Welfare started a pilot project this month at 20 long-term care hospitals nationwide to provide benefits for caregiving costs. The project supports up to 770,000 won per patient to reduce the burden on patients and their families. Jeong Gyeong-sil, Director of Health and Medical Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "Through this pilot project, we expect to reduce caregiving burdens in the ultra-aged era and provide better caregiving services. We will strive to institutionalize this step-by-step to offer benefits to more citizens."

The government aims to launch the full-scale project nationwide by January 2027. Since both ruling and opposition parties pledged to provide benefits for caregiving costs in long-term care hospitals during the 22nd general election campaign, it is expected to be legislated regardless of political disputes once the National Assembly is formed. However, questions remain about securing funding for actual implementation. According to estimates by the National Health Insurance Service Research Institute under the National Health Insurance Corporation, full coverage of caregiving costs in long-term care hospitals would require more than 15 trillion won annually from the health insurance budget. Critics point out that this amount is too large for the health insurance finances, which are already supplemented by government support to cover deficits. Neither party included funding plans in their election pledges.

Alongside this, the government is steadily promoting integrated nursing and caregiving services. However, there are criticisms that the policy’s intent and reality are misaligned. Originally started to reduce the caregiving burden for critically ill patients, many medical institutions instead admit mild patients to integrated nursing and caregiving wards rather than those requiring intensive care. According to data submitted by the National Health Insurance Corporation to Rep. Lee Jong-seong of the People Power Party, only 13% of patients admitted to 611 integrated wards were critically ill.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare is reorganizing the integrated nursing and caregiving services to focus on critically ill patients by July. The core is the introduction of dedicated integrated wards for critically ill patients. These wards, which will be introduced first in 75 hospitals nationwide, will admit only patients with high severity and caregiving needs, such as those undergoing major surgery or suffering from dementia or delirium.