Kim Hyun-bin began his journalism career at Arirang TV from 2012 to 2017, specializing in defense, foreign affairs and the economy. In 2018, he joined The Korea Times, covering society and business, and is currently responsible for embassy affairs.
2,500 Koreans make W100 mil. per month in 2018
People cross the street at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul. The National Health Insurance premium is mandatory for any fulltime worker. / Korea Times file
By Kim Hyun-bin
By Kim Hyun-bin
Nearly 2,500 people earned more than 100 million won ($88,000) per month last year, according to government data, Sunday.
A National Health Insurance Corp. (NHIC) report revealed that 2,495 workers paid a health insurance premium of 3.1 million won per month. These individuals represent 0.014 percent of the 17 million people that subscribe to the country's national health insurance.
Those that paid 3.1 million won in premiums last December, were people receiving a monthly paycheck over 99 million won ― mainly executives at conglomerates and CEOs of companies who receive hundreds of billions of won annually.
The national health insurance premium is mandatory for any fulltime worker.
Half of the premium cost is paid for by the worker and the other half by the employer.
Before last July, the maximum insurance premium stood at 2.39 million won paid for by high-income groups that received more than 781 million won a month.
However, starting July last year, the government revised the law to better ease the burden on low income families by lowering their premium and instead raising the premium for the high income bracket to a maximum of 3.18 million won.
The maximum premium is increased each year taking into consideration inflation and economic growth rate.
Unlike taxes, national health insurance is considered social insurance and the premium does not rise indefinitely compared to a person's income. No matter how large the income a person receives there is a ceiling.
However, when a person is registered as an executive at several companies they will need to pay a premium for each company they receive income from.
The premium is calculated by a person's earnings multiplied by the set premium percentage.
The 2019 health insurance percentage has been set at a monthly 6.46 percent.
Even with mandatory health insurance, Korean households' medical expenses are much higher than that of the average of 35 member OECD nations as a large number of treatments aren't covered by the state health insurance.
Household expenditures accounted for 33.3 percent of total medical expenses in 2016, much higher than the OECD average of 20.3 percent.
In line with efforts to reduce the financial burden on patients, the Moon Jae-in administration announced an overhaul of the health care program last year that focuses on expanding its coverage.