Photo ID to become mandatory at hospitals for insurance benefits

Patients wait to see doctors at a major hospital in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap

Patients who want to receive national health insurance benefits at medical institutes will be required to present their photo identification cards, beginning from May 20, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Sunday.

So far, patients have been able to get medical services at a discount simply by writing down their ID numbers at reception desks or inputting the numbers at kiosks.

The enhanced identification procedures come as there have been an increasing number of cases of the country’s public health insurance system being exploited.

Under the new system, patients who want to get medical treatment at local clinics or larger hospitals should present their photo ID cards, which contain their resident registration numbers or foreign registration numbers, to receive insurance benefits.

The ID cards acceptable as valid documents would include resident registration cards, driver’s licenses, passports, disability register cards or certifications of alien registration.

In cases where patients do not have physical ID cards, they will be able to download mobile certifications showing they are entitled to receive health insurance, if they have due qualifications.

As the enhanced procedures are aimed at checking one’s eligibility for health insurance more strictly, the benefits would not be applied to those who fail to identify themselves.

Exceptions will apply to patients aged 19 or younger and emergency patients as well as those who visit the same medical institution in which they have already gone through the identification procedures within the previous six months.

Those who receive subscribed medicine at pharmacies will also be an exception.

According to the National Health Insurance Service, 32,605 cases of irregularities were reported in 2021, 30,771 in 2022 and 40,418 in 2023.

One of the most common types of the irregularities was patients not qualified for the health insurance using someone else’ ID number to receive benefits. Other cases were centered on those stealing others’ ID numbers to receive antipsychotic drugs.

All Korean nationals excluding recipients of certain livelihood programs and all foreign nationals residing in Korea for more than six months are obliged to enroll in the national health insurance program, in accordance with the National Health Insurance Act.

The program requires monthly premiums to be paid based on one’s income and assets and offers about 70 percent of the coverage for most medical treatments, excluding non-essential services such as cosmetic procedures.

Equal medical coverage is extended to anybody suffering from illnesses or injuries, regardless of how much one pays in monthly premiums.