Next year's national health insurance premium rate has been frozen at 7.19%, the same as this year. The premium rates for both workplace-based and community-based subscribers next year will remain at the same level as this year.
Although the financial burden on the national health insurance system is growing due to recent aging and rising medical costs, the government decided not to increase people's premium burden. Health authorities said they took into account that the bottom line has remained in surplus over the past five years and that sufficient reserves are held.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare held the 15th full meeting of the Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee on the 8th and decided to freeze the 2027 national health insurance premium rate at 7.19%, the same as this year. The amount per assessment point for property-based premiums for community-based subscribers will also be maintained at 211.5 won, the same as this year.
Previously, the national health insurance premium rate was frozen at 7.09% for two consecutive years in 2024 and 2025, then was raised by 1.48% to 7.19% this year.
◇"Holding reserves for 3 years and 5 months"
The government cited the fact that the national health insurance finances are still being managed stably as the background for the freeze.
It also said it comprehensively considered that next year's government support will increase by about 1.1 trillion won and that premium income is expected to rise due to the recent boom in the semiconductor industry.
According to the ministry, as of the end of 2025, the national health insurance holds 30.2 trillion won in reserves, equivalent to about 3 years and 5 months of benefit payments. The bottom line has also remained in surplus over the past five years. The 2027 national health insurance budget for state subsidies will be 13.8 trillion won, up about 1.1 trillion won from this year.
The decision also reflected the assessment that premium income will increase as subscribers' wages and earnings rise amid the recent semiconductor boom.
The ministry said it made the decision after comprehensively considering expenditure needs arising from initiatives to strengthen regional, essential, and public health care and to innovate national health insurance coverage.
◇Freeze despite projected deficits in health insurance finances
However, the national health insurance finances are not entirely comfortable. As of the end of July this year, the current-year balance of the national health insurance posted a deficit of 364.4 billion won. According to projections presented earlier by a subcommittee of the policy committee, the year-end current-year balance is expected to record a deficit of 2.8374 trillion won. The cumulative balance is projected to fall to 27.3844 trillion won.
The increase in national health insurance expenditure is also continuing. According to the National Health Insurance Service, last year's national health insurance medical expenses were 125.0717 trillion won, up 7.6% from 116.2509 trillion won a year earlier. Cumulative medical expenses through the second quarter of this year were 63.7989 trillion won, up 4.8% from the same period a year earlier.
Aging is expected to further intensify pressure on medical costs.
Medical expenses for seniors aged 65 or older were 52.1935 trillion won in 2024, accounting for 44.9% of total national health insurance medical expenses. While the working-age population that pays national health insurance premiums is shrinking, the elderly, who use more medical care, are increasing, deepening the structural imbalance between premium income and expenditure.
Accordingly, expenditure management is expected to become more important.
The ministry said, "We will actively identify and promote tasks to improve expenditure efficiency so that the premiums paid by the people can be used effectively for essential medical services." It also plans to continue efforts to strengthen regional, essential, and public health care and to ease people's medical cost burdens for rare and severe intractable diseases.
◇"Limits to premium income… state support should be expanded"
Financial expenditure resulting from the government's efforts to expand coverage and to support essential and severe care is also weighing on national health insurance finances. As such, some noted that simply raising premiums would not be enough to resolve the structural fiscal burden from aging
Labor and medical circles had earlier voiced concerns.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) Public Transport and Social Services Union, the National Health Insurance Labor Union, and the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) Labor Union issued a statement the same day criticizing the move to freeze health insurance premiums and demanding that the government fulfill the statutory 20% state subsidy.
They argued that if the premium rate is frozen while medical expenditure is rapidly increasing due to aging, national health insurance coverage could be weakened and people's medical cost burdens could grow. They also urged reducing unnecessary medical expenditure by banning mixed billing, expanding prescriptions by generic name, and managing non-covered services.
They also raised issues with the size of next year's state subsidy for national health insurance being set at 13.8 trillion won. The unions argued that this amounts to 14.4% of expected premium income and falls short of the statutory support level.
The Korean Medical Association Organization also expressed opposition to the premium freeze ahead of the policy committee meeting. The association urged that the premium rate be set at an appropriate level, considering the medium- to long-term fiscal conditions of the national health insurance, and that the issue of the statutory state subsidy be resolved.