Health insurance financial balance regarding Chinese nationals turned around to surplus last year
The health insurance financing balance for Chinese nationals, which had been in the red, turned toward a surplus last year. The overall financial balance of health insurance for foreigners also showed a wider surplus.
Rep. Seo Meong-ok of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee analyzed data from the National Health Insurance Service on the fiscal balance of health insurance for foreigners (premiums vs. claims) and found that the fiscal balance of health insurance for Chinese nationals recorded a surplus of 5.5 billion won ($4 million) last year.
The fiscal balance of health insurance for Chinese nationals has been in large deficit with 110.8 billion won in 2017, 159 billion won in 2018, and 98.7 billion won in 2019, raising the controversy of the “health insurance dine and dash by Chinese nationals.”
Since Covid-19, the deficit has decreased from 22.9 billion won in 2022 to 2.7 billion won in 2023 and turned around to a surplus last year.
However, the Chinese subscribers’ surplus last year was smaller than that of other countries. In the same year, Vietnamese subscribers paid 193.3 billion won in premiums and recorded a surplus of 120.3 billion won, while Chinese subscribers paid 936.9 billion won. Still, the surplus was only 5.5 billion won.
The overall health insurance fiscal balance for foreigners recorded a surplus of 943.9 billion won last year, up 29.2 percent from 2023 (730.8 billion won).
Rep. Seo's office said that the number of “free rides on health insurance” has decreased since April last year, when the National Health Insurance Act required foreigners to live in Korea for at least six months to qualify as dependents.
“It is encouraging that Chinese nationals’ health insurance fiscal balance has turned into a surplus from a deficit of more than 100 billion won in the past,” Seo said. “More efforts will be needed to prevent free-riding by foreigners and ensure the health insurance's financial stability.”