The welfare benefits, including livelihood benefits, child allowances, basic pensions, and disability allowances, are currently operated in a way that requires the recipients to apply to receive them. Recently, President Lee Jae-myung asked, "Why do we insist on operating an application system?" The intention was to suggest changing the system to automatic payments since the eligibility criteria are already established.
According to reports on the 20th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which received this assignment from the president, is reportedly in a dilemma. A ministry official said, "To receive welfare benefits, various personal information needs to be provided, which raises legal issues." The current law prohibits comprehensive information provision to protect personal data.
◇ 500 types of welfare benefits require separate 'information provision consent'
Currently, there are more than 500 types of welfare benefits that the Ministry of Health and Welfare provides in cash and other forms. The law mandates that the entire procedure must be initiated by the recipients' application. To access necessary personal information such as demographics, income, assets, and qualifications (disability status), the government must obtain consent from the recipients individually.
For instance, to apply for the basic pension, one must submit five types of documents, including an income and asset declaration form and a copy of the bank account to receive payments. At this time, the procedure requires obtaining consent for "personal information collection and utilization" and "financial information provision" individually. This consent is necessary to verify if the person is age 65 or older, whether they have a spouse, and the extent of their income and assets such as property, vehicles, stocks, and deposits.
Such personal information provision cannot be agreed to all at once. This is to prevent violations, leaks, and misuse of personal data.
◇ "A social consensus on comprehensive information provision is not easy to achieve"
Experts note that if President Lee Jae-myung's proposal to automate payments of welfare benefits without applications is to be realized, the issue of personal information provision must first be resolved. In particular, amending the Credit Information Act for consent to provide financial information such as deposits, loans, and investments is expected to be the most challenging task.
Choi Hyun-soo, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, stated in a conversation with ChosunBiz that "there is a need to establish a clause in the Credit Information Act that presumes consent for information provision when inquiries are made for policy support by the state or local authorities," adding that "it might not be easy to persuade private financial companies." Financial institutions may be hesitant to provide personal information due to concerns over violations of the Financial Real Name Act and other reasons.
In addition, amendments to all existing laws that currently require applications for welfare benefits, such as the Basic Social Security Act and the Social Security Benefits Act, will also be necessary for automatic payments to become feasible.
Furthermore, there is an issue regarding the sharing of personal information between the government and local authorities. For example, the 'Energy Voucher' system, which supports heating costs, is supposed to be provided to recipients of the basic livelihood guarantee or those in the next lower income bracket, but the Ministry of Health and Welfare cannot provide relevant information to central departments that administer other vouchers. Research fellow Choi commented, "This is because of the provision that prohibits third-party information sharing," adding that "even if they want to provide vouchers based on already secured personal information, they must obtain applications from recipients individually, leading to application rates that fall short of 100%."
If the issues of information provision and sharing are resolved, automation of payments is believed to be technically manageable. The Social Security Information Center already operates a 'Welfare Membership' service that automatically informs subscribers about their eligibility for 127 types of welfare services, including the basic livelihood guarantee and basic pension. Experts believe that enhancing this service would not pose difficulties in achieving automatic payments.
However, a Ministry of Health and Welfare official mentioned, "It will not be easy to achieve social consensus on the comprehensive collection of personal information by the government," adding that "it is important to establish a system that minimizes personal information for automatic payments of welfare benefits and alleviates concerns about leaks and misuse."