Ministry of Health and Welfare Plans to Create Long-term Nursing Care Insurance

The Ministry of Health and Welfare laid out its plan to establish the Long-term Nursing Care Insurance (unofficial), similar to a health insurance or national pension scheme, in a bid to implement the Public Nursing Care System starting from 2007.

On November 12, the Preparation Committee for Public Nursing Care unveiled a report on Nursing Care System which is expected to be introduced in four phases.

In the first phase of the system, from 2007-2008, approximately 130,000 people aged 65 and over will benefit from the service if they are categorized as the most seriously ill. The elderly in rural areas who are seriously ill or worse will also be eligible to receive help. In the second phase, between 2009-2010, about 364,400 senior citizens aged 65 and over will receive help if they are seriously ill. The elderly in rural areas who are slightly ill or worse will also be the beneficiaries. The third phase, between 2011-2012, will provide assistance to 550,000 slightly ill people aged 65 and over. The fourth phase from 2013 will benefit all senior citizens aged 65 and over as well as one million ill people aged 45 and over.

The preparation committee expected that 1.918 trillion won, 3.695 trillion won, 5.3 trillion won, and 9.306 trillion won will be spent in each phase respectively.

To finance the scheme, the preparation committee presented its plan to introduce and fund the Long-term Nursing Care Insurance, which is similar to social insurance. The preparation committee was created in February to pursue the Public Nursing Care System which aims at establishing a social system in which the citizens aged 65 and over can lead independent lives.

The number of elderly in need of Long-term Nursing Care service is expected to reach 1.14 million by 2020 from this year’s 690,000. An official of the committee said, “The committee will hold a hearing on November 13 to collect various opinions before submitting the final draft to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.”

Dong-Won Kim daviskim@donga.com