As the medical aid program marks its 50th year, it will be overhauled to cover vulnerable groups' health not only with after-the-fact treatment but also with prevention and recovery. The government will also push from next year to abolish the dependent-support obligation standard for households with people who have severe disabilities and to provide support for caregiving costs.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on the 8th that it convened the Central Committee for Medical Aid Review and deliberated on the direction for establishing the Fourth Basic Plan for Medical Aid (2027–2029) that includes these measures.
Medical aid is a program in which the state supports medical expenses for people in economic hardship. The year 2027 marks 50 years since medical aid, which began as a medical protection system, was implemented.
In the fourth basic plan, the government proposed shifting medical aid from a program that supports treatment costs to a protection system that continuously manages health from disease prevention through treatment and recovery to reintegration into the community. The goal is to prevent people from falling into poverty due to medical issues while narrowing the health gap between medical aid recipients and National Health Insurance enrollees.
Specifically, the three-year basic plan will include tasks reflected in next year's budget, such as abolishing the dependent-support obligation standard for households with people who have severe disabilities and supporting caregiving costs, along with system improvement tasks that have formed social consensus.
The dependent-support obligation standard is a system that excludes from eligibility those whose family members have a certain level of income or assets when they apply for medical aid. Abolishing the standard for households with people who have severe disabilities can reduce blind spots where people are unable to receive medical aid due to their families' economic capacity.
However, tasks that change the structure of the medical aid system itself will be pursued separately from this basic plan.
Given the significant interests involved, matters such as how to reform the medical aid protection system and benefit scope and how to appropriately adjust medical use and supply will be presented as a separate "innovation plan" after roundtables, forums, and public hearings with civil society and experts.
Through this, the government plans to revise the system to more robustly guarantee medical aid for those who need it while reducing preventable hospitalizations and the progression of diseases to severe stages. It also plans to identify the causes of excessive medical use and supply that go beyond medical necessity and manage them rationally.