The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on the 3rd that, after National Assembly deliberation, next year's Ministry of Health and Welfare budget and fund operation plan total expenditure was finalized at 137.4949 trillion won. That is an increase of 12.004 trillion won (9.6%) from this year's budget (125.4909 trillion won). It is 0.1% lower than the government proposal (137.648 trillion won).
Of the government's total expenditure (727.9 trillion won), the share accounted for by the ministry's total expenditure rose from 18.6% to 18.9%.
This budget reflects on-the-ground demand such as strengthening regional, essential, and public health care, expanding care services, and increasing support for people with disabilities, children, and vulnerable groups.
◇ Strengthening regional, essential, and public health care
The government increased support by 17 billion won to help local medical centers and Red Cross hospitals recover their management. It newly allocated 4.5 billion won to install and operate helipads at two regional trauma centers. It also added 1.3 billion won for establishing a policy support center to carry out government-commissioned projects such as the Central Emergency Medical Center within the National Medical Center (NMC).
It increased the budget by 1.32 billion won and 1.8 billion won, respectively, for building a pediatric essential care system at two sites and for improving facilities and equipment at obstetrics and gynecology departments that have been in operation for more than 10 years at 12 sites.
It additionally allocated 1.8 billion won for night and holiday operating costs to support 30 pediatric departments in areas without Dalbit Children's Hospitals.
It increased the budget by 3.4 billion won to operate the Medical Innovation Committee and citizen panels.
◇ Expanding the foundation for public health, including suicide prevention
The hiring period for staff at suicide prevention centers was extended from six months to nine months. The project budget to support linking information on high-risk groups and conducting psychological autopsies for adolescents was increased by 2.8 billion won.
It additionally allocated 9.8 billion won for building the Jeonbuk Regional Rehabilitation Hospital and 1.2 billion won to expand operations of public children's rehabilitation hospitals and centers in Gyeonggi, Daejeon, Seoul, and Jeju.
It expanded the number of beneficiaries for nursing assistant education support by 1,000. By additionally reflecting professional liability insurance premiums for 7,000 clinical support nurses, the related budget increased by 620 million won.
It newly allocated 740 million won to prepare for introducing a national examination to operate the tattooist licensing system.
◇ Strengthening care and child protection
It will expand integrated local government care services nationwide, increasing related project costs by 9.06 billion won. It additionally allocated 4.57 billion won for system development.
The pilot project for the "food security guarantee" will expand from 20 to 100 locations, and the main project from 130 to 150 locations, increasing the budget by a total of 2.4 billion won.
It will also expand support for foster care allowances, increasing the related budget by 1 billion won.
◇ Expanding support for people with disabilities
It additionally allocated 3.41 billion won to expand or remodel 10 residential facilities for people with disabilities. It also raised the unit price of additional benefits for disability activity support by 10%, increasing the budget by 6.25 billion won.
The average subsidy unit price for developmental rehabilitation services and language development support was raised by 5,000 won each from 170,000–250,000 won, depending on income criteria. Accordingly, the related budget increased by 4.22 billion won.
It will increase the number of beneficiaries of daytime activity services for people with developmental disabilities by 200 and raise the professional allowance for integrated care workers for people with the most severe developmental disabilities and the unit price for group services, increasing the related budget by a total of 6.96 billion won.
It additionally allocated 400 million won to operate separate shelters for abused people with disabilities by gender.
Meanwhile, during National Assembly deliberations, the ministry's budget for next year was reduced by a total of 256 billion won compared with the government proposal, including the basic pension budget. The basic pension budget decreased by 224.9 billion won. This was adjusted to update key variables such as the share of two-person couples and the share of recipients subject to reduction.
There were also reductions in the Korea-style ARPA-H project (2 billion won), the physician-scientist leap program (200 million won), and support for rapid commercialization of AI application products (17 billion won).
The ministry said, "We will thoroughly prepare budget allocation and execution plans so that the budget finalized by the National Assembly can be implemented without a hitch at the start of the next fiscal year."