목차
Foreign Nationals Without Residency are Ineligible for Health Insurance Benefits, According to Court Judgment
A Seoul Administrative Court has ruled that foreign nationals who have lost their residency status cannot be eligible for health insurance benefits, even if their departure has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The court announced on the 12th that it had dismissed a lawsuit filed by individual A against the National Health Insurance Corporation challenging the imposition of unjust enrichment recovery decision.
Background
Individual A, a Chinese national living overseas, entered Korea with a one-year work visa in February 2017 and extended their stay until February 2020. The Ministry of Justice’s Immigration Management Division had allowed the extension of stay for Chinese immigrants who were hesitant to return home due to the effects of COVID-19. A continued to extend their stay until April 14, 2020, and received 10 additional deadline extensions to depart from Korea before finally returning to China on February 27, 2021.
A had acquired eligibility as a regional participant in the health insurance program in 2019 but lost that qualification when their residency status expired on April 14, 2020. However, A continued to pay insurance premiums and received a total of 34 medical benefits.
Court Decision
The National Health Insurance Commission discovered this fact and imposed a recovery order requiring A to repay the commission fees of approximately 34,350,000 KRW. A challenged this decision by filing an administrative lawsuit, arguing that their residency status remained valid until the delayed departure deadline and they should be considered as a health insurance subscriber.
However, the court deemed that A lost their health insurance eligibility after the delay in their departure deadline in April 2020. The court stated that “postponement of the departure deadline due to unavoidable reasons is distinct from the granting of a new stay period, which implies a practical difference.”
The court further explained that the National Health Insurance Act strictly limits insurance eligibility to “Korean nationals residing in the country,” with a limited exception for certain foreign nationals with specific residency status. Therefore, the court concluded that A should repay the health insurance benefits received after losing their residency status to the commission.
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