Starting next year, the "deemed support expense" will not be considered in the income criteria when determining eligibility for medical aid for low-income people. Those who were excluded from coverage because they had children despite having little income are now expected to be able to receive medical aid.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on the 9th that it decided to abolish the "medical aid support expense" system through the Central Medical Aid Review Committee. It comes 26 years after the Basic Livelihood Security Program was created in 2000.
Medical aid is provided to those whose income is 40% or less of the standard median income and whose legally responsible supporter is deemed unable to provide support. The government classifies supporters according to their income as ▲ able to support ▲ limited ability to support ▲ unable to support. If the supporter is able, the person is not eligible; if unable, the person is eligible.
The problem is the ambiguous "limited ability to support" range, where it is unclear whether children can support their parents. For this range, authorities have applied the "support expense system," which assumes that part of the supporter's income is provided to the parent as living expenses and adds that amount to the parent's income.
When the support expense system was introduced, authorities subtracted 100% of the median income from the supporter's income and deemed half of the remainder as the support amount, but the rate has gradually decreased and is now 10%. As a result, even when contact with children was severed and no living expenses were actually provided, some people were ruled to have higher income and were excluded from eligibility.
For example, suppose Person A has an actual income of 670,000 won and has an adult child and spouse. Then 360,000 won—10% of the child couple's income criterion—would be added, making A's combined income 1,030,000 won. A's income would exceed the eligibility threshold of 1,025,000 won for a one-person household and result in disqualification. Starting next year, the child couple's income will not be reflected, so only the actual income of 670,000 won will apply, and A will be able to receive medical aid. The government expects the number of beneficiaries to increase and plans to inject an additional 21.5 billion won in the budget.
Going forward, the ministry plans to simplify the current complex supporter criteria and gradually relax the system so that the criteria apply only to high-income and high-asset supporters. In short, medical aid will not be provided only when the children are wealthier. A ministry official said, "We plan to prepare a roadmap to relax the supporter criteria in the first half of next year."