Government to review mid- to long-term 'imposing health insurance premiums' on daily earned income

The health insurance authorities are considering imposing health insurance premiums on daily earned income as a mid- to long-term task.

Daily earned income is the salary that daily workers who are not continuously employed by a particular employer provide and receive work for up to a period of less than a year.

Until now, this income was recognized as income for the vulnerable, so health insurance premiums were not deducted.

However, income is also gradually increasing, with 458,000 foreign workers earning 9.961 trillion won in daily earned income last year.

Accordingly, the government is looking at the imposition of insurance premiums in order to discover new financial resources to increase the sustainability of health insurance finances.

An official from the National Health Insurance Corporation explained, however, that imposing insurance premiums on daily workers is a long-term task and is not a step to materialize immediately.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare also said that it has not been confirmed whether to impose health insurance premiums on daily earned income, adding that it will continue to review it after sufficient social discussions.