Nat'l health insurance runs deficit in Q1

Officials work at a branch office of the National Health Insurance Service in Seoul, July 29. Yonhap

The national health insurance ran a deficit of nearly 4 trillion won ($2.8 billion) in the first quarter of 2026, data showed Sunday, increasing the likelihood of a return to an annual net loss for the first time in six years.

According to National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) data submitted to Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Jeon Jin-sook's office, the state health insurance fund made 22.4 trillion won and spent 26.3 trillion won in the January-March period, resulting in a deficit of about 3.9 trillion won.

The total cumulative reserve has gone down from 30.2 trillion won at the end of 2025 to 26.3 trillion won.

The NHIS posted annual deficits from 2018 to 2020 and then turned to a surplus of 2.8 trillion won in 2021. The size of its surplus grew to 3.6 trillion won in 2022 and to 4.1 trillion won in 2023.

Annual gains shrank to 1.7 trillion won in 2024 and dropped further to 499.6 billion won last year.

The healthy ministry had predicted in February 2024 that the NHIS would record a net loss in 2026.

The fiscal outlook for the NHIS is expected to be further influenced by government policies and other economic factors, including plans to strengthen regional, essential and public healthcare services and reforms to premium assessment standards.

The NHIS said it plans to evaluate the financial impact on its future revenue and spending and make projections based on ongoing monitoring.