“My husband’s national pension exceeded 1.7 million won, so my spouse and I also lost the qualification as dependents.” “There is no income, and the national pension is 0 won, but does it make sense to pay health insurance premiums?” “I’m worried about the health insurance fee bomb, can’t you give me a little less of the national pension?” It is an appeal that has recently been posted on online bulletin boards such as social network services ( SNS
) as the health insurance authorities have tightened the income requirements for dependents . The health insurance authorities drastically strengthened the standard for recognizing dependents from 34 million won in annual taxable income to 20 million won in September of last year. As a result, there were a lot of people who were eliminated from dependents and converted to local subscribers because of public pension income exceeding 20 million won per year, such as national, public servant, private school, and military pensions, without any other income. One of the controversial points is the issue of dropping out with a spouse. In terms of pension income, if the husband earns 1.67 million won per month (exceeds 20 million won per year) and the wife has a national pension of 0 won, the wife loses her dependent status as well. . According to the ‘statistical data of dependents who were eliminated after reflecting the public pension in 2022’ recently received by the National Assembly member Insoon Nam’s office from the Health Insurance Corporation, the number of people who were converted from dependents to local subscribers was 30,000 due to the linkage of pension income data in the previous year (2022) It reached 3,000 people (including those who dropped out accompanied by spouses). In the meantime, they have been listed as dependents on the health insurance card of their children or family members who are working and enjoyed insurance benefits without paying insurance premiums, but now they are paying for local health insurance. If you are eliminated as a dependent, you will have to pay health insurance fees not only for your income but also for property such as real estate.
If a dependent is eliminated from health insurance, the spouse is also eliminated.
As the standard for dependents was strengthened to promote equity in the imposition of health insurance premiums, the number of dependents is on the decline, with 19.5 million in 2018, 19.104 million in 2019, 18.607 million in 2020, and 18.09 million in 2021.
As of the end of November 2022, there were 17,504,000 dependents, a decrease of 586,000 from the previous year. Among them, 231,843 people changed their qualifications from dependents to local subscribers due to the strengthened income requirements (exceeding 34 million won per year → exceeding 20 million won per year).
In particular, 204,512 people were eliminated as dependents, accounting for 88.2% of those who failed to meet the total income standard, as their income from public pensions alone, such as civil servants, private schools, military personnel, and national pensions, exceeded 20 million won per year without any other income.
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The problem is that of the total number of dependents (231,843 people) who were excluded because they did not meet the income standard, 144,407 people were eliminated with an annual income of over 20 million won (1,666,660 won per month), and the remaining 90,436 people were excluded. were the so-called “fellows”.
A typical dropout is the spouse of a pensioner. In terms of pension income, if the husband earns 1.67 million won per month (more than 20 million won a year) and the wife has a pension of 0 won, the wife is also separated from the dependent.
The reason why this happens is that in the past, in the case of married people, the practice of allowing both spouses to become dependents only when they meet the income standard continues. If even one of the dependents, husband or wife, exceeds the income standard, the spouse living with them also loses their dependents.
Criteria for spouse elimination메이저사이트 ‘income separately, property separately’
In order to become a dependent, the property standard must also be met, but unlike the income standard, if one of the couple does not meet the property standard in the dependent recognition requirements, only that person is eliminated. Unlike income, which was used as a dependent qualification requirement a long time ago, property was belatedly introduced as a dependent recognition standard in 2010. It has affected.
At the time, the Constitutional Court ruled that a person who married or formed a household with a family would be more disadvantaged than a single person or a person involved in a de facto marriage, and Article 36 (1) of the Constitution (marriage and family life should be established and maintained on the basis of individual dignity and equality of the sexes). and the State guarantees this) was declared a violation. As a result of this decision, the comprehensive real estate tax, which was levied by household, was changed to taxation by person.
Since 2010, after the decision to unconstitutionality of aggregate taxation by household, comprehensive real estate tax has been taxed by person.
An official from the National Health Insurance Service explained, “In the case of property, it was a desperate measure in consideration of the nature that it is not possible to arbitrarily determine whether or not a couple has a share in the process of forming the property.”
Experts unanimously say that the problem of consistency and rationality in calculating insurance premiums should be improved as the criteria for dropping out with dependents are applied differently by income and property.
In particular, among dependents’ income, business, interest, and dividends have the characteristics of assets formed jointly by the couple, but in the case of pension, as the couple pays separate insurance premiums and receives old-age pensions separately, it has a strong individual character, so it makes no sense to exclude them together. point out that it is not.
Next year, there will be more deaths from health insurance dependents
As a large number of retirees receiving more than 20 million won of the national pension plan come out this year, it is expected that the aftermath will lead to a series of cases where they will have to pay health insurance premiums after being converted to local subscribers next year.
According to the National Health Insurance Corporation and the National Pension Service, as of the end of January this year, there were 141,728 recipients of the national pension of 1.6 million won or more per month. Among them, 15,290 recipients received more than 2 million won per month to live in their old age.
The number of recipients of 1.6 million won or more per month was 64,483 at the end of January 2022 (including 2472 recipients of 2 million won or more per month), a 2.2-fold increase in just one year.
[Photo = Yonhap News]
The National Health Insurance Authority adjusts dependents by reflecting changes in income from various public pensions, including the national pension, every February. The total amount of the public pension of the previous year was calculated, but in February of this year, the total amount of the 2022 pension was applied.
In this way, due to the linkage of pension income data of the previous year (year 2022), the number of people who changed from health insurance dependents to local subscribers reached 33,000 people (including spouses and others who dropped out) in February of this year. The problem is the observation that in February of next year, which reflects the total amount of pension this year, the number of people who have fallen out of dependents will be much higher than this year.