Medical insurance premiums for wage earners to rise 25%

Starting January next year, medical insurance premiums of wage earning subscribers will likely be jacked up by 25%, while those of non-wage earners covered by the so-called regional medical insurance system will rise 15%-to-20%.

Ministry of Health and Welfare announced Thursday that it plans to raise medical insurance premiums of wage earners from the current 2.8% of total income to 3.4% to 3.6%, in line with integrating the medical insurance systems for wage earners and public servants and teachers.

As a result, wage earners, except public servants and teachers, will see their medical insurance premiums increase 21.4% to 28.6%, translating into a rise of 10,000 won per person in monthly average insurance bills. On the contrary, insurance premiums of public servants and teachers will remain the same at the current level or show only a slight increase, which portends a strong protest of wage earning subscribers.

As of the end of this year, the reserve of insurance premiums for general wage earning subscribers is estimated to reach 1,020.5 billion won with a projected deficit of 710 billion won, while that for public servants and teachers will amount to 39.6 billion won with a deficit of 72.9 billion won. When the two insurance systems are united as scheduled, the medical insurance system for general wage earners will have to shoulder the burdensome deficit of that for public servant and teachers.

The health-welfare ministry said that the medical insurance bill of non-wage workers also will inevitably forced up by 15% to 20% within this year, as the regional insurance system suffers from a deficit of 543.7 billion won and the reserve is likely to be entirely eroded.