"No More Worrying About Poverty When Sick"... Government to Apply Medical Benefits to Nursing Care Expenses from Next Year

Nursing Care Support to Begin in Earnest Next Year
Mid- to Long-Term Structural Reforms to Be Announced Separately After Public Hearings

The government is set to overhaul the medical safety net for vulnerable groups by completely abolishing the dependent family member criteria for households with severely disabled persons—a long-standing entry barrier for medical care recipients—and by institutionalizing support for nursing care costs.

Hyeonsu Yeop (left), First Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, is speaking at the 3rd Central Medical Care Review Committee. Ministry of Health and Welfare.

On September 8, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that the 3rd Central Medical Care Deliberation Committee for 2026 was held, presided over by First Vice Minister Hyun Suyeop. At the meeting, committee members discussed review tasks for the "4th Basic Plan for Medical Care (2027–2029)," which includes these changes as key elements.

The implementation of this new basic plan in 2027 will mark a turning point, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the medical care system's launch as a medical protection scheme. The government plans to shift away from the traditional method of providing retrospective treatment cost support, and instead aims to establish a "health outcomes-based guarantee system" that covers the entire cycle—from disease prevention and treatment to recovery and reintegration into the community.

The core objective is to break the vicious cycle in which medical expenses push vulnerable individuals further into poverty. The committee has presented a vision of creating “a society where illness does not cause worries about poverty, and where being poor does not force people to give up on their health.” It also set a goal to resolve the chronic health disparities between general health insurance subscribers and medical care recipients.

Accordingly, the plan will first include the abolition of dependent family member criteria for households with severely disabled persons and the institutionalization of nursing care cost support—measures that have already been reflected in next year’s budget proposal or have gained broad policy consensus—as priorities in the three-year basic plan. The intent is to practically reduce the nursing care burden for vulnerable groups and eliminate welfare blind spots.

However, for mid- to long-term structural reform tasks that require an overall redesign beyond the scope of the three-year implementation plan, the government will take a two-track approach. Sensitive issues, such as a comprehensive overhaul of the benefits guarantee system and the creation of an ecosystem for appropriate medical use and supply, will not be hastily tied into the short-term plan. Instead, these topics will be addressed separately as a "medical care innovation plan" to be released after holding consultation meetings and public hearings with relevant stakeholders, including civil society and medical professionals.

Vice Minister Hyun stated, "The core of medical care reform is transitioning to a proactive health security system that can practically safeguard the well-being of vulnerable groups. By improving the dependent family member criteria and similar measures, we will strengthen the medical safety net for at-risk populations, reduce worsening disease severity and preventable hospitalizations, and, when it comes to medical use and supply that exceed real medical needs, we will closely examine the root causes to ensure rational management."

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