The figure for those paying 2.39 million won (US$2,117) per month in premiums from a monthly income of at least 78.1 million won jumped to 3,471 as of the end of June from 2,508 in 2012, 2,522 in 2013, 2,893 in 2014, 3,017 in 2015 and 3,403 in 2016, statistics released by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) said. (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 7 (Korea Bizwire) – The number of salaried people paying the maximum amount of national health insurance premiums has risen gradually over the past few years amid a steady increase in high income earners, government data showed Thursday.
The figure for those paying 2.39 million won (US$2,117) per month in premiums from a monthly income of at least 78.1 million won jumped to 3,471 as of the end of June from 2,508 in 2012, 2,522 in 2013, 2,893 in 2014, 3,017 in 2015 and 3,403 in 2016, statistics released by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) said.
The number represents 0.02 percent of all salaried workers who pay monthly national healthcare premiums.
Self-employed people who pay the monthly maximum premium of 2.27 million won also surged steadily to 715 in 2016 from 359 in 2012, 421 in 2013, 480 in 2014 and 573 in 2015.
The number of people who have more than 1 billion won in financial assets grew to 242,000 last year from 163,000 in 2012, according to a report published by the KB Finance & Economics Institute on Aug. 1.
The total amount of their financial assets reached 552 trillion won last year, accounting for 16.3 percent of financial assets held by the country’s total households.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare recently said it will raise the maximum national health insurance premium for salaried people to 3.01 million won starting from July 2018.
(Yonhap)
