Insurance fees rise for higher earners
Workers who earn additional income other than their employment wages will start paying more in national health insurance fees from September.The Ministry of Health and Welfare forewarned such a change in a revised National Health Insurance Act yesterday, in efforts to address criticism that the national health insurance program is unfair because people in the upper-income bracket pay lower premiums in proportion to their earnings.
According to the ministry, those who earn more than 6 million won ($5,363) from other sources of income - in addition to their monthly paycheck - such as rental properties will be subject to the increase.
Currently, an employee who is subscribed to the employer’s health insurance policy only pays 5.64 percent of his or her monthly paycheck for health insurance, despite having an additional source of income.
However, if the measure takes effect from Sept. 1, employees with about 6 million won more per month as additional income will have to pay about 170,000 won more in health insurance fees. There are about 1.53 million people who subscribe to employer insurance policies.
By Yim Seung-hye [sharon@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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