Gov't to reduce medical expenses for low-income earners

By You Soo-sun

A revised health care plan to ease the financial burden on low-income earners will take effect next year, according to the health ministry Monday.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare issued a legislative notice of a revision to the National Health Insurance Act that would reduce health care costs for people who earn below the median income.

Specifically it will lower the out-of-pocket limit, the maximum annual amount a person has to pay for insurance-covered services.

People in the lowest income bracket, or the bottom 10 percentile of the income distribution, will pay an annual maximum of 800,000 won ($710) of medical costs, down from 1.22 million won.

Those whose earnings fall between the 10th and 30th percentile will pay up to 1 million won a year, down from 1.2 million won. People who earn just below the median income will pay up to 1.5 million won, down from 2 million.

The out-of-pocket limit was introduced in 2004 to expand medical insurance and prevent household bankruptcy caused by heavy medical costs.

According to a 2016 OECD report, 37 percent of health spending in Korea was financed directly by households, the highest rate among all OECD countries and 1.7 times higher than the OECD average.