Second Round Criteria for High Oil Price Relief Fund to Be Announced Tomorrow... Bottom 70% by Health Insurance Premiums

High-Value Asset Holders to Be Excluded,
Special Provisions Expected for Dual-Income Households

The government will announce the criteria for selecting recipients of the second round of high oil price relief payments on May 11.

On the first day of the initial payment of the high oil price relief fund on the 27th of last month, residents are applying for the support fund at the Gaya 2-dong Community Service Center in Busanjin-gu, Busan. Photo by Yonhap News

On May 10, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety stated that the government will release details on May 11 regarding the criteria for the second round of high oil price relief payments and the application process. The authorities plan to use health insurance premiums to identify the bottom 70% income group, while excluding high-asset households from eligibility. The second round of payments will target the bottom 70% of the population by income. The amount provided per person will be as follows: 100,000 won for residents in the Seoul metropolitan area, 150,000 won for residents outside the metropolitan area, 200,000 won for residents in government-designated population-declining regions with preferential support, and 250,000 won for residents in special support areas within government-designated population-declining regions.

The government plans to use the same health insurance premium-based selection method that was applied during the second round of livelihood recovery consumption coupons last year. At that time, households were selected if their combined out-of-pocket health insurance premiums were below a certain threshold. However, there is a difference in that the high oil price relief fund will target the bottom 70% income group, unlike the consumption coupon program.

In addition, the government will separately exclude households owning high-value financial assets or real estate. During the previous second round of consumption coupon distribution, households were excluded if their total 2024 property tax assessment base exceeded 1.2 billion won or if their total financial income surpassed 20 million won.

The government will also set separate criteria reflecting the characteristics of single-person households, which have a high proportion of both young adults and the elderly. Special rules will be applied to dual-income households as well. In the previous round of consumption coupon payments, dual-income households were assessed as if they had one additional member, given their relatively higher health insurance premium burden compared to single-income households. For example, a dual-income household of two was evaluated based on the standard for a three-person household.

Meanwhile, applications for the first round of relief payments, which targeted basic livelihood security recipients, the near-poor, and single-parent families, closed on May 8. The payment rate for the first round was tallied at 91.2%. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to allow vulnerable groups who missed the first application period to apply during the second round of payments.

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