The government plans to tighten conditions on health insurance benefits for the dependents of foreign subscribers to health insurance to prevent them from getting a free ride.

For instance, the authorities are considering limiting it to those who “live in Korea for six months or more.”

According to sources at the Ministry of Health and Insurance and National Health Insurance Service Wednesday, policymakers are examining adding conditions, including mandatory living in the country for a certain period, to register as the dependents of foreign subscribers to health insurance.

The period of mandatory stay will likely be six months, the sources said.

The controversy has been going on for a long time over foreigners’ exploiting the Korean health insurance system. Some foreigners have entered Korea, received lots of healthcare services for a short period, and left Korea, abusing the nation’s health insurance system. The government has revised laws and decrees several times in recent years to prevent such practices.

For instance, the authorities allowed only foreigners who have lived in Korea for six months or more to subscribe to health insurance.

However, the system has failed to plug all loopholes because the dependents of foreign residents, unlike the subscribers themselves, were free from the mandatory period of stay in the country. These dependents are mainly the spouses and children of foreign subscribers, and there are no differences in conditions to be dependents of Korean or foreign subscribers. Accordingly, some family members of foreign subscribers who live abroad enter Korea briefly, receive expensive medical services, and return to their countries.

The state health insurance company has revised the system several times to prevent free-riding on health insurance by dependents who can afford to pay insurance fees. From September, for instance, only people who earn less than 20 million won ($1,490) or less can become dependents of subscribers, sharply down from the previous criteria of 34 million won. Also, people with properties with a tax base exceeding 900 million won or those who earn more than 10 million won a year and have properties with a tax base exceeding 540 million won will be disqualified as dependents.

Unlike locals, however, it is difficult to precisely grasp the income and assets of foreigners, making it easier for them to get a free ride.

So much so that even President Yoon Suk-yeol, during his campaign in January, said, “I will solve the problem of foreigners’ exploiting the insurance system to keep them from ‘putting a spoon on a well-prepared dinner table.’”

In its executive briefing to President Yoon last Friday, the health-welfare ministry also said it would improve the standards for foreign dependents.

Lawmakers have submitted two amendment bills to National Health Insurance Act to prevent foreign dependents’ free-riding. Both bills aim at applying the same standards to dependents by, for instance, stipulating their purpose of stay and residing period here.

However, the revision also has some problems because the family members of foreign diplomats and company officials who just came to Korea cannot receive insurance benefits if they fall ill within six months of arrival.

Accordingly, the sources said that the health-welfare ministry is considering exempting spouses and underage children of foreign residents from the rule, targeting only their parents, brothers and sisters, and grownup children.