Ruling Uri Party Plans to Expand the Number of Recipients of National Basic Livelihood Assistance

The ruling Uri Party is planning to expand the number of recipients of national basic livelihood assistance by reducing the scope of those who are liable to support the recipients, which has been one of the criteria for the selection of recipients.

Under the current national basic livelihood security law, those liable to support the beneficiaries of the public assistance are their parents, children, or “grandparents or grandchildren living with them.” But the ruling party is trying to make amendment to the law to exclude all of them from the band of people liable to support the recipients. It is planning to get the revised bill through a regular national assembly session.

Lee Mok-hee, the head of the Fifth Policy Coordination Committee of the Uri Party, talked about the bill on July 26 in a senior official’s policy meeting also attended by Uri Party floor leader Jeong Se-kyun.

Under the existing law, an old man living with his grandson cannot receive livelihood assistance even though the grandson is unable to financially support his grandfather, because the law defines that the grandson has a duty to support him. But the revised bill is designed to benefit those in such situations.

The Uri Party estimates that a revision would cost additional budget of 120.5 billion won, but 33,000 more people will benefit. According to statistics from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of recipients of basic livelihood assistance reaches 143,000. The government provides a family of two under the poverty line with 660,000 won a month.

At the same day, the government and the Uri Party also agreed to establish new standards for the disabled to sign on disability insurance to ensure that the disabled go through the same inspection process as the non-disabled. Strict standards for the disabled have been an obstacle for them to get insurance.

Moon Seok-ho, the head of the Third Policy Coordination Committee of the Uri Party, said that the government and the ruling party agreed to press for the amendment bill on disability insurance in a consultative meeting held in National Assembly, attended by representatives from the Financial Supervisory Service, insurers, and disability organizations.

In-Jik Cho cij1999@donga.com