Violations of Staffing Requirements Detected
NHIS Considering Possibility of Criminal Charges
It has been confirmed that a nursing home operated by the family of former President Yoon Sukyeol made improper claims for long-term care benefit payments totaling 1.44 billion won. The National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) has initiated a process to recover these funds and is reviewing whether to pursue criminal charges.
Former President Yoon Sukyeol and First Lady Kim Keonhee are talking inside a car as they leave the presidential residence in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on April 11.
According to materials received from the NHIS by Representative Jeon Jinsook of the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee on June 23, the NHIS conducted an on-site investigation of a nursing home in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, operated by Kim Jinwoo, the brother of former First Lady Kim Keonhee, from April 28 to May 1.
The investigation involved the NHIS, Namyangju City Hall, Namyangju Nambu Police Station, and the Northern Gyeonggi Elderly Protection Agency. The period under review was from March 2022 to February 2025, covering a total of 36 months.
The investigation found that the nursing home violated staffing and additional staffing requirements. A sanitation worker responsible for laundry duties did not meet the required monthly working hours but claimed and received 409,377,360 won in long-term care benefit payments without any deductions.
Additionally, it was discovered that the sanitation worker was driving staff to and from work instead of performing laundry duties, and that during the same period, the facility manager was performing both laundry and facility management tasks. As a result, neither fulfilled their designated work hours, yet the facility claimed and received an additional staffing allowance of 255,864,050 won.
Out of the total long-term care benefit payments of 5,159,025,840 won made to the facility during the investigation period, 665,241,410 won?equivalent to 12.89%?was found to have been improperly claimed.
Since improper claims exceeding 10% of total payments can be subject to criminal charges, the NHIS plans to deliberate on whether to file a criminal complaint against the facility.
It was also confirmed that, during an earlier operating period not included in the main investigation (August 2018 to February 2022), an additional 774,879,980 won was improperly claimed in the same manner. The total amount of improper claims by the nursing home amounts to 1,440,121,390 won.
The NHIS sent a preliminary notice of recovery to the nursing home on May 22. After reviewing the facility’s submitted opinion, the agency plans to send a formal response and a final recovery notice on July 7.
Representative Jeon stated, "Despite the NHIS’s analysis of long-term care benefit claim trends and regular audits, the issues at this nursing home were not detected. There were also limitations in the recent on-site investigation, such as failing to examine the accounting of the corporation and food suppliers. If necessary, a more thorough investigation, including additional reports to the police, should be conducted."
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