Court Rules 1.44 Billion Won Recovery from Kim Keonhee Family's Nursing Home for Staffing Violations Is Lawful

"Long-Term Care Insurance Act Distinguishes Core Duties by Job Type"

Yonhap News Agency

The court has ruled that the National Health Insurance Service's decision to recover improperly claimed nursing care benefits from the nursing home run by the family of First Lady Kim Keonhee was lawful.

On April 9, the Seoul Administrative Court's Division 5 (Presiding Judge Lee Jeongwon) ruled against the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by the operator of Nursing Home A—run by Mrs. Kim's mother, Choi Eunsun, and her brother, Jinwoo—seeking to overturn the National Health Insurance Service's order to recover long-term care benefit payments.

The National Health Insurance Service notified Nursing Home A in June last year of the decision to recover payments, stating that the facility had filed improper claims totaling approximately 1.44 billion won in long-term care benefits over a period of 79 months since 2018 by inflating employee work hours and other methods. The investigation found that the hygiene worker, instead of performing laundry work—which is their core responsibility—was assigned to drive staff vehicles, while the actual laundry tasks were shared among facility managers and caregivers.

In response, the nursing home argued that the measure was unjust and filed an administrative lawsuit. The nursing home claimed, "Since the hygiene worker and the manager formed a team and shared the work, the required work hours should be considered fulfilled."

However, the court did not accept this argument. The bench pointed out, "The Long-Term Care Insurance Act for the Elderly distinguishes the core duties by job type, and as a rule, each person's required work hours must be fulfilled separately in order to claim benefits."

Separately from this lawsuit, the nursing home also applied to the court for a suspension of execution, but this application was dismissed in August last year. The nursing home appealed the decision, but the appellate court also upheld the original ruling.

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