Beginning April 2024, South Korea’s health insurance system will undergo significant changes. This amendment primarily focuses on the dependent eligibility criteria for foreign nationals and overseas Koreans. As a result, it will be more challenging for those who do not pay premiums to benefit from the national health insurance.

Definition of Foreign Nationals and Overseas Koreans

Foreign nationals include all people with foreign citizenship, including those of Korean descent. Overseas Koreans refer to Koreans who live abroad but maintain their Korean citizenship.

Key Contents of the Amended Health Insurance Act

According to the National Health Insurance Service, the amended act, effective from April 3, 2024, introduces additional conditions for foreign nationals and overseas Koreans to qualify as dependents. These include not only meeting the relationship, income, and property requirements with the workplace subscriber but also a mandatory domestic residence period of over six months.

Purpose of the Amendment

The purpose of this amendment is to prevent situations where relatives of foreign nationals, including overseas Koreans, register as dependents and briefly enter the country for surgery or treatment before leaving.

Exceptions

However, immediate health insurance benefits are allowed for dependents who are minors under 19 years of age or spouses, as well as for those residing in the country for reasons such as studying (D-2), attending general training (D-4-3), non-professional employment (E-9), permanent residency (F-5), or marriage immigration (F-6).

Strengthening the Eligibility Criteria for Dependents

The Health Insurance Authority has been enhancing the eligibility conditions for dependents to increase the equity of premium imposition. For example, the income criterion was significantly lowered from an annual combined comprehensive taxable income exceeding 34 million won in July 2018 to over 20 million won from September 2022.

The property criterion has also been strengthened. Dependents are disqualified if the property tax base amount exceeds 900 million won, or if the annual income exceeds 10 million won while the tax base amount exceeds 540 million won.

Issues in Verifying Foreign Nationals’ Income and Property

It has been challenging to verify the income and property requirements for foreign nationals. Consequently, some foreign workplace subscribers have been registering their families living abroad as dependents, enabling them to receive health insurance benefits in Korea for treatment and surgery.