Foreigners' Health Insurance Deficit Only in China... Deficit Range Shrinks Despite 'Meoktwi' Controversy

Overall Foreigners' Health Insurance Finance in Surplus
Only Chinese Maintain Financial Deficit
Scale Decreases... Impact of System Improvement

The financial balance of foreign nationals' health insurance has shown a surplus over the past several years. However, the amounts vary significantly by individual countries. In the case of Chinese nationals, who have been controversially labeled as 'muktwi' (fraudulent claimants) on social networking services (SNS), a deficit has persisted.

According to data titled 'Status of Foreigners' Insurance Premiums Imposed vs. Benefits Paid by Year from 2018 to 2022,' received on the 28th by the office of National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee member Nam In-soon from the National Health Insurance Service, the total insurance premiums paid last year by all foreigners, including overseas Koreans, amounted to 1.7892 trillion KRW.

The total amount these individuals received in insurance benefits for using domestic hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, etc., was 1.2332 trillion KRW. In other words, the National Health Insurance Service recorded a financial surplus of 556 billion KRW from all foreigners.

The financial balance of foreign nationals' health insurance has steadily accumulated a surplus over recent years: 232 billion KRW in 2018, 373.6 billion KRW in 2019, 587.5 billion KRW in 2020, 525.1 billion KRW in 2021, and 556 billion KRW in 2022.

While some claim that foreigners are 'free-riding' on the domestic health insurance system, the reality is that foreigners have incurred losses rather than benefits.

Only Chinese Nationals in Deficit... Due to 'Haoyangmao'?

It has been revealed that the so-called 'Haoyangmao,' which refers to receiving more benefits than the insurance premiums paid by utilizing South Korea's health insurance system, is spreading online in China.
[Image source=Baidu]

However, when viewed by individual countries, the scale of the surplus varies greatly. In particular, Chinese nationals have consistently run a deficit over several years. As of last year, Chinese nationals received more in benefits than they paid in premiums, resulting in a deficit of 22.9 billion KRW.

In this context, videos titled 'How to Exploit the Korean Health Insurance System' have recently circulated on China's largest portal site Baidu and the Chinese version of Instagram, Xiaohongshu, sparking controversy.

Those sharing such videos refer to the exploitation method as 'Haoyangmao' (plucking sheep's wool). In Korean, this means 'breaking even.' They claim that in Korea, undergoing △ health checkups △ scaling and wisdom tooth extraction can yield benefits exceeding the insurance premiums paid.

They also assert that "if one person residing in Korea enrolls in health insurance, the entire family can benefit," and they analyze in detail how the domestic health insurance system might change in the future.

But can this so-called 'Haoyangmao' by Chinese nationals be solely blamed for the health insurance deficit among Chinese nationals?

Years of Health Insurance System Improvements... Significant Reduction in Chinese Nationals' Deficit

National Health Insurance Service Photo by Yonhap News

Looking at the trend of the deficit, it is difficult to find evidence that Chinese nationals are actively 'exploiting' the health insurance system. Although the health insurance finances remain in deficit, the deficit size is rapidly decreasing.

The deficit in Chinese nationals' health insurance finances, which reached 150.9 billion KRW in 2018, fell to 98.7 billion KRW in 2019, 23.9 billion KRW in 2020, and 10.9 billion KRW in 2021. Last year, it increased to 22.9 billion KRW, about twice the previous year, but this is believed to be due to foreigners who had returned to their home countries during the COVID-19 pandemic returning to Korea as the infection subsided.

The reduction in the deficit size is thanks to the domestic health insurance authorities' improvements to the health insurance system for foreigners over the past several years.

Since July 2019, the National Health Insurance Service has strengthened the enrollment conditions and premium imposition criteria for foreigners by mandating that foreigners residing in Korea for more than six months, who are not workplace subscribers or dependents, must enroll as regional subscribers and bear the full insurance premium.

Additionally, the health insurance authorities plan to further revise the system to block cases like the controversial 'Haoyangmao.' To prevent some foreigners from registering as dependents of workplace subscribers after entering the country and receiving treatment and surgery benefits before leaving, they intend to block entry of foreigners whose purpose is medical treatment.

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