"100,000 Won Support Per Low-Income Individual"... Ministry of Health and Welfare Confirms 1.8578 Trillion Won for 2nd Supplementary Budget

A Total of 166.7 Billion KRW Allocated to Support COVID-19 Vaccine Phase 3 Clinical Trials

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 24th that it secured a budget of 1.8578 trillion KRW through the second supplementary budget of this year.

The additionally secured budget this time is focused on COVID-19 damage support, livelihood stabilization, and reinforcement of quarantine and vaccines. In particular, considering the recent rapid increase in COVID-19 confirmed cases during the National Assembly review process, the budget was increased by 307.6 billion KRW compared to the government proposal (1.5502 trillion KRW). An additional 200 billion KRW was allocated for compensation of losses to medical institutions, 51 billion KRW for operating support of residential treatment centers, 24 billion KRW for support of COVID-19 response medical personnel, 30 billion KRW for temporary support of meal expenses for children affected by COVID-19-related food insecurity, and 3 billion KRW for psychological support for infectious disease trauma. Meanwhile, 400 million KRW was cut from elderly job creation and social activity support.

First, additional budgets were secured to support COVID-19 damage and stabilize livelihoods. A budget of 296 billion KRW was allocated to the low-income consumption plus fund, which provides a consumption support payment of 100,000 KRW per person to low-income single-parent families receiving basic living benefits, legal lower-income support, and single-parent family childcare support.

A budget was also secured for the early implementation of the full abolition of the support obligation criteria for livelihood benefits. Starting from October next year, livelihood benefits will be paid regardless of the presence of a support obligor if the recipient’s own income and assets meet the criteria. The target is 50,000 households, with a budget of 47.6 billion KRW secured.

To support low-income households suddenly facing crisis situations such as COVID-19, the application period for the temporary relaxation of emergency welfare criteria was extended from June 30 to September 30 this year, adding 91.5 billion KRW. In addition, as participation in self-support work increased among low-income people struggling to find jobs due to COVID-19, budgets were secured for expanding participation quotas (24.8 billion KRW) and continuing support for 12,000 existing self-support workers (15.5 billion KRW).

Furthermore, to compensate for the decreased income of the elderly due to COVID-19 and support social participation, an additional 15.5 billion KRW was secured for expanding public activity-type and social service-type elderly jobs, 30 billion KRW for temporary meal support for children at risk of food insecurity due to prolonged COVID-19, and 3 billion KRW to strengthen psychological support for infectious disease trauma.

The budget for COVID-19 quarantine and vaccine reinforcement was also expanded. First, 1.1211 trillion KRW was secured as compensation for costs and losses incurred by medical institutions and pharmacies following government and local government orders responding to COVID-19. Additionally, 51 billion KRW was allocated to support operating expenses for newly opened residential treatment centers for mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients. An additional 24 billion KRW was allocated to boost morale and support infection control efforts of COVID-19 response medical personnel affiliated with infectious disease-dedicated hospitals. Furthermore, 14.7 billion KRW was added to temporarily expand personnel support to ensure smooth operation of public health centers, which perform comprehensive infectious disease response functions on the front lines.

Moreover, to establish a global vaccine hub and expand vaccine and raw material production capacity, budgets were secured for ▲supporting vaccine and raw material production facilities and equipment (18 billion KRW) and ▲training domestic vaccine specialists (2.8 billion KRW). Also, to expedite the completion of domestic COVID-19 vaccine development, 98 billion KRW was additionally allocated to support clinical phase 3 costs for vaccine development companies.

Following this supplementary budget, the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s total expenditure for this year increased from 90.8854 trillion KRW to 92.7432 trillion KRW. The Ministry stated, "We will thoroughly prepare to ensure the supplementary budget is executed swiftly and actively strive to protect the safety of the people from COVID-19 and support the livelihood economy."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.