Korea's national health insurance rate to go up 2.89% in 2021

A medical worker in a booth takes samples from a woman during the COVID-19 testing at a makeshift clinic in Seoul, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020. AP

South Korea's national health insurance rate will go up 2.89 percent on-year in 2021, with an average salaried worker to pay 3,399 won (US$2.86) more per month, the government said Friday.

The rate increase decided by the Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee is slightly lower than the 3.2 percent hike set for this year, compared to 2019, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.

It said under the changes, the health insurance rate for a corporate subscriber will move up from the current 6.67 percent to 6.86 percent. This translates into health insurance payment for individuals working for a company rising to 122,727 won per month from 119,328 won this year.

For so-called local subscribers, who do not work for a company, the average monthly health insurance payment for a household will reach 97,422 won in 2021 from 94,666 won at present, the ministry said.

The latest increase comes as Seoul has marked up its health insurance rates by 2-3 percent in the last three years.

After a freeze in 2017, the government marked up rates by 2.04 percent in 2018, 3.49 percent the following year and 3.2 percent on-year in 2020, data showed.

Related to the hike, sources said the increase is smaller than the 3.2 percent hike proposed by the government. They said the smaller increase is due to opposition encountered by the deliberation committee from various subscriber groups.

Normally, the health insurance rate is set in June, but this year, it was delayed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. (Yonhap)