Seizure Period for Office-Managed Hospital Assets Shortened from 5 Months to 1 Month

The period for property seizure of illegally established medical institutions will be shortened. In addition, the out-of-pocket maximum payment system will be excluded when visiting tertiary general hospitals for mild illnesses, and the industries and occupations of high-amount health insurance premium defaulters will be disclosed.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that the "Partial Amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the National Health Insurance Act," which includes these contents, was approved at the Cabinet meeting on the 13th.

The amendment first established reasons for the prompt property seizure of illegally established medical institutions such as office-holder hospitals. If reasons such as forced tax collection or delinquency disposition, compulsory execution, suspension of bill or check transactions, or collection amount of 500 million KRW or more apply, the period required for property seizure will be shortened from the current 5 months to 1 month. This is expected to contribute to preventing concealment or disposal of property to evade recovery of unjust profits and to improving the collection rate.

Furthermore, as a follow-up measure to the "Health Insurance Sustainability Enhancement Plan" announced by the government last February, the out-of-pocket maximum payment system will be excluded when visiting tertiary general hospitals for mild illnesses, and a separate maximum amount will be applied for hospitalization in long-term care hospitals for more than 120 days for all subscribers, reflecting institutional improvements for the rational operation of the out-of-pocket maximum payment system.

Additionally, improvements and supplements to the health insurance system were made, including ▲ granting reporting opportunities when income occurs after adjusting monthly income or insurance premium assessment points ▲ additional disclosure of industries and occupations of high-amount and habitual defaulters to raise awareness of premium delinquency.

Jung Yoon-soon, Director of the Health Insurance Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "It is important to efficiently utilize limited health insurance finances and medical resources to provide necessary medical services appropriately to the public," adding, "To this end, we will continuously promote institutional improvements for rational health insurance operation, such as prompt property seizure of illegally established medical institutions and exclusion of the maximum payment system when visiting tertiary general hospitals for mild illnesses."

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