Lee, Yoon clash over health insurance coverage for foreign residents

People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, right, meets vendors at a traditional market in Ganghwa County, Incheon, Feb. 1. Newsis

Yoon pledges to tighten rules; Lee urges him to stop 'hatred and discrimination'

By Ko Dong-hwan

State health insurance coverage for foreigners living in Korea has become the latest point of contention between the presidential candidates of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) and ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).

The standoff started off with PPP candidate Yoon Suk-yeol saying on Facebook, Sunday, that he will apply more stringent standards to screen foreigners living in Korea who are benefiting from the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) coverage.

Yoon, who is leading major public opinion polls as of early this month, said he will raise the bar for foreigners so that NHIS coverage will be more limited and less available to their family members or other dependents. He described foreigners as "putting their spoons on meal tables that have been prepared for Korean citizens through their hard efforts for the past 40 years."

Yoon specifically targeted Chinese residents, saying, "Eight out of 10 people who were covered the most by the NHIS (in 2021) were Chinese, with six of them being their dependents." He added that the Chinese dependent who was reimbursed by the NHIS the most received about 3.3 billion won ($2.72 million), while having paid only 10 percent of their medical bills.

"Foreigners wishing to apply for NHIS coverage are required to live in Korea for at least six months, but their dependents aren't subject to such requirements," wrote Yoon. "It allows them to come to the country to take advantage of the service and leave soon after they are done with their medical treatments."

DPK presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung countered Yoon's pledge on Wednesday. On Facebook, Lee told Yoon to stop his "politics that encourages hatred of foreigners," disagreeing with his argument that foreign nationals are "putting their spoons on tables prepared for Koreans."

"The fact is that the country has profited more than 500 billion won from foreign national residents' insurance payments," Lee said. "The ones who are actually benefiting from the service (those whose reimbursed amounts surpass their insurance payments) are Korean citizens."

Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, right, meets local residents of Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, Feb. 1. Newsis

Lee went on, describing Yoon's xenophobic campaign as an "ultra-conservative populist pledge that's hazardous to the country," and compared it to "the words of the Nazis."

"Instigating hatred and discrimination to encourage conflict and divide the country is old-style Yeouido politics," said Lee, referring to the Seoul district where the National Assembly is located. "Stop rushing yourself and start walking the road of inclusive politics."

Others echoed Lee's criticism, including Ilya Belyakov, a naturalized Korean citizen from Russia who became famous after regularly appearing in TV network JTBC's now-defunct talk show, "Non-Summit." On Twitter, Monday, he said that Yoon was encouraging racial discrimination through lies.

"Stop copying things from conservative campaigns and at least do some fact checking," Belyakov said, adding a link to a news report that supports Lee's argument about the NHIS profiting from foreign nationals' insurance payments. Belyakov also told Yoon to seek out a shaman if he was not so sure, as the candidate has been involved in a controversy about him maintaining ties with spiritual advisors and fortune tellers during his presidential bid.

Other people also criticized Yoon on Facebook. Some pointed out that his "narrow vision is unfit for broader politics," while others cited allegations that his wife Kim Keon-hee who, according to Rep. Cho Eung-cheon of the DPK, has accrued assets worth over 6 billion won, but in actuality, only paid 70,000 won per month for her NHIS coverage.

According to the NHIS, over 1.2 million residents of foreign nationality in Korea made monthly payments to the national insurance service in 2020, totaling over 1.5 trillion won ($1.24 billion). Their total amount of reimbursements during the same year amounted to less than 960 billion won, bringing the NHIS a net profit of over 580 billion won. In addition, the health insurance service for foreign nationals made continuous profits from 2018 to 2020, accumulating over 1 trillion won in total in profits from them during that period.

However, when taking into account Korean citizens, the NHIS suffered a net loss in 2020. The NHIS collected insurance payments of over 73.4 trillion won but reimbursed more than 73.7 trillion won ― producing a net loss of more than 350 billion won.

"From 2019, when foreign workers became subject to the national health insurance service on a mandatory basis, the NHIS' net profit amount increased each year," an NHIS official said. "By and large, foreigners who have enrolled in the service are contributing to the service's stable financial status."