"Habitual Health Insurance Premium Delinquents Own Over 100 Homes... One Owns as Many as 764 Properties"

Seo's Office: Number of Habitual Delinquents Owning 30 or More Homes Rises Sixfold in Three Years
Delinquents with Assessed Assets Over 1 Billion Won Also Up 2.3 Times
Only 0.3% of Seized Assets Actually Proceed to Public Auction

The number of habitual delinquent payers of national health insurance premiums who own dozens to hundreds of residential properties has surged significantly. The number of habitual delinquents holding more than 100 residential properties increased ninefold over three years. The individual with the highest number of properties among these delinquents owned 764 units.

According to data submitted by the National Health Insurance Service to Assemblyman Seo Youngseok of the Democratic Party, a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee representing Bucheon-si Gap in Gyeonggi Province, on September 21, the number of property seizures due to overdue health insurance premiums increased by 67%, from 1,005,354 cases in 2021 to 1,682,861 cases last year (2025).

The proportion of seized assets held in deposits rose from 66.4% to 78.3% during the same period. In contrast, the real estate seizure rate fell from 5.2% to 2.4%. The number of real estate seizures also dropped by 24%, from 52,532 cases in 2021 to 39,975 cases in 2025.

While the number of real estate seizures declined, the scope of multi-property owners among habitual delinquent payers of health insurance premiums has grown significantly. Among those whose personal information was made public due to habitual non-payment, the number of individuals holding more than 30 residential properties increased from 6 in 2022 to 37 in 2025, a 6.2-fold rise. The number of those with more than 100 residential properties increased ninefold—from one person to nine during the same period. Additionally, the number of people whose publicly declared property exceeds 1 billion won grew 2.3 times, from 163 to 376.

As of last year, the individual with the highest number of residential units among habitual delinquents owned 764 homes, followed by others with 316, 231, 226, and 180 units, respectively.

On the other hand, among the 10,444 habitual health insurance premium delinquents whose personal information was disclosed last year, 8,087 were found to own no property, accounting for 77.4%. This underscores a significant gap in asset ownership even among those publicly listed.

The ratio of real estate seizures resulting in actual public auctions due to health insurance premium delinquency remained below 0.3%. In 2021, only 134 requests for auction were made out of 52,532 real estate seizures, corresponding to 0.26%. In 2025, 114 auctions were requested among 39,975 cases, for a ratio of 0.29%. The amount collected through public auction decreased by approximately 45%, from 1.2 billion won in 2021 to 660 million won in 2025.

The National Health Insurance Service explained that, for some multi-property delinquents, real estate seizures and forced or public auctions are ongoing. However, not all seized properties can be disposed of through public auction. This is because in some cases, issues such as prior liens or lack of surplus make the auction process difficult.

Assemblyman Seo Youngseok stated, "As the number of habitual delinquents with dozens or hundreds of homes whose personal information is being made public increases, there is a need for more thorough collection management targeting high-value and habitual delinquents with the clear ability to pay." He added, "In particular, there should be a detailed review of whether real estate seizures actually lead to payment and collection." Seo also emphasized, "We must analyze the causes of low auction conversion rates by category and accurately assess how many cases face difficulties in auction due to lack of surplus or prior claims, so that concrete and effective collection measures can be devised."

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