보건복지부 영문홈페이지

Government to Increase the Number of Indicators
for Waring Signs of Household Crisis to 44
to Better Reduce Welfare Blind Spots

Approval of the Proposed Partial Amendment of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Use and Provision of Social Security Benefits and Search for Eligible Beneficiaries at the cabinet meeting on April 24

Increase of the threshold amount of arrears to assess household crisis from KRW 10 to 20 million

Addition of five new indicators including medical expenses, overdue water and gas bills

The number of indicators used to identify households in crisis will be increased from currently 39 to 44, including medical expenses and overdue utility bills. Improvements will be made to identify households in crisis through the resident registration fact-finding process even when the address on the resident registration is different from the actual residence.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare (Minister Cho, KyooHong) stated that the “Proposed Partial Amendment of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Use and Provision of Social Security Benefits and Search for Eligible Beneficiaries” was approved at the cabinet meeting on Monday, April 24, to accurately identify and promptly locate households in crisis, as a follow-up to the “Measures to Improve Systems for Identification of Welfare Blind Spots and Support for Households in Crisis” announced on November 24, 2022.

The revised decree includes the following:

Firstly, the threshold amount of arrears to assess household crisis will be raised to ensure that households in crisis are not missed(Article 8-1) and the scope of information to be collected will be expanded to include water and gas bills arrears and excessive medical expenses** (Attached Form 2-1 & 2-2). Also, the number of indicators to identify welfare blind spots will be increased from 39 to 44*** starting from December 2023.

* (Current) KRW 1 ~ 10 million → (New) KRW 1 ~ 20 million

** Individuals or households eligible for medical expense support under the “Act on the Support for Catastrophic Health Expenditures”

*** Data linked to the welfare blind spot identification system will be expanded in scope (39 types →44 types starting from Dec. 2023) as follows: ① recipients of catastrophic medical expense, ② water bills in arrears, ③ gas bills in arrears, ④ individuals who have ceased debt rescheduling, and ⑤ employment crisis data (individuals with no records of employment insurance in the last full year

Secondly, the actual address and contact information acquired through the resident registration fact-finding process can be used to idenfity households in crisis when the information recorded on the resident registration is different from the actual residence(Attached Form 2-5).

In addition, medical treatment data involving sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) will be newly linked to the e-Child Happiness Support System to help identify children in crisis (Attached Form 2-3).

Kim Kinam at the Bureau of Welfare Administration Support under the Ministry of Health and Welfare said, “The revised decree focuses on preventing welfare blind spots by expanding the scope of data that can be used to identify households in crisis. The government will implement other tasks under the “Measures to Improve Systems for Identification of Welfare Blind Spots and Support for Households in Crisis” as soon as possible by actively partnering with the private sector.” ///