[Examining the Facts] After Hair-Loss Coverage, the Health Insurance Contribution Increase Also Falters… What Is Behind the Repeated Slowdowns? (2026.08.02.)

(We are not unaware of the difficulties

faced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which in most cases

has to clean up after demands from politicians!

Matters that are hard to handle

are not problems that will be solved by putting them off.

After catching its breath,

we ask that it hasten measures

to stabilize health insurance finances!

Pension Future Forum, August 3, 2026)

[Anchor]
Over the past week the increase in health insurance contributions was the talk of the town, and the news that 1.78 million salaried workers would have to pay more each month drew no small criticism. Perhaps for that reason, the government abruptly postponed even tabling the item at the relevant deliberative committee. We will examine what happened with reporter Cha Jung-seung, who covers the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Reporter Cha, what was in the increase plan the government originally prepared?

[Reporter]
First, the health insurance deduction granted to salaried workers who have side income such as rental income or dividends in addition to their salary would be lowered from 20 million won to 10 million won. As the deduction shrinks, the burden on workplace-based subscribers rises accordingly. There was also news that both the ceiling and the floor for health insurance contributions would be raised. On top of that, a series of press reports carried the idea of newly levying health insurance contributions, previously not charged, on those earning 20 million won or more a year from day labor.

[Anchor]
So the government reviewed this internally — but that would be non-public material. How did it come to be reported?

[Reporter]
Yes, the Ministry of Health and Welfare reacted with dismay. The highest decision-making body for health insurance policy is the Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee, known for short as the Geonjeongsim. It was last Thursday — the 30th — and the content that had been reported to a subcommittee before the Geonjeongsim meeting became known outside. In the Geonjeongsim, 24 members — not only from the government but also from the medical profession, patient groups, labor unions and business circles — gather to deliberate on the items. Before deliberation had even taken place, news that the government would raise health insurance contributions across the board spread, drawing a strong backlash from salaried workers and others.

[Anchor]
What is puzzling is why the tabling of the item was postponed. What did the Ministry of Health and Welfare say?

[Reporter]
The Ministry of Health and Welfare issued an official statement that “broader consultation was needed.” Various accounts are circulating about the inside story, however. Health insurance contributions are social insurance contributions, but in practice they have a strongly tax-like character. One reading is that, at a time when the presidential office is leading a push to strengthen the comprehensive real estate holding tax and the capital gains tax, concern was at work that playing the health insurance increase card as well would draw fierce public criticism. In other words, the political burden was on their minds. On top of that, with the KOSPI swinging up and down and slipping to the 5,000 level, public opinion is poor. Observers suggest that the unsettled situation — with the People Power Party keeping up its offensive over responsibility for the market crash and demanding the dismissal of the Lee Jae-myung government’s economic team — also played a part. An official at the Ministry of Health and Welfare said, “Within the government too, the view emerged that we should go through a little more consultation,” while adding that “it was not postponed because of any particular matter.”

[Anchor]
Seeing a policy being pushed and then suddenly withdrawn calls to mind the earlier push for the “youth hair-loss medication policy.”

[Reporter]
Yes, that is right. The government pushed to bring hair-loss treatment into insurance coverage with young people in mind, but ran into fierce opposition from patients with rare and intractable diseases and others. In the end it had to step back, abruptly canceling a planned public forum five days before it was to be held. Not only youth hair loss, but the phased expansion of nursing-care benefits and the nationwide expansion of sickness benefits as well…

There is so much that will cost money… yet health insurance finances will be depleted by 2033. For now the government has postponed tabling the item and is adjusting its pace, but for the Ministry of Health and Welfare there is no avoiding the discussion of raising health insurance contributions.

Yun Suk-myung / Research Fellow Emeritus, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs
“In any case, if a ministry exists, it must take the lead in driving (reform), whether of the pension or of health insurance. If this is not addressed in time, all the greater the pain that follows…”

The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to resume discussion of restructuring the health insurance contribution system within this month.

[Anchor]
One could say that difficult matters have all piled up at once, but in any case, since the Ministry of Health and Welfare is the ministry responsible for defending the soundness of health insurance finances, it will need to keep its balance. Reporter Cha, thank you.

Reporter Cha Jung-seung ([email protected])

https://n.news.naver.com/article/448/0000630936?sid=102