migrant workers exempted....

by enaj Fri Mar 27, 2009 12:00 pm

Migrant workers exempted from long-term care costs

Migrant workers will be excluded from paying long-term care insurance fees starting in September, the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs said yesterday. Those who employ these foreign workers under the Employment Permit System will also be exempted from making such payments, ministry officials said.

But foreign laborers, if they want, will be allowed to continue paying the monthly insurance cost of 1,800 won ($1.34), they said. Their employers are required to pay the same amount in insurance premium for their foreign employees. The ministry said it will put a revised bill on the senior long-term care law on public notice today.

This measure was devised because most of the migrant workers who came to find jobs here through the nation''s work permit system stay in the country for an average of less than three years and a majority of them are under age 60, said ministry officials, adding that this means they are unlikely to get the benefits they have earned. The ministry projects that a total of 160,000 migrant workers will benefit from this revision.

The senior long-term care plan, which is a social insurance program, is for elderly people over age 65 that experience difficulties performing their daily activities. Since it was first implemented in July of last year, 166,795 seniors have received benefits from the program as of February, according to the National Health Insurance Corporation, which is in charge of the insurance program.

For transparent operation of long-term care insurance fund distribution centers, it will also rate them beginning this year to grant incentives or subtract some of their funding, depending on the evaluation outcomes.

The ministry will also award people who make reports -- anywhere from 10,000 won ($7) to 20 million won -- of facilities that received greater funding from the government by using inappropriate methods, its officials said. Such measures, excluding migrant workers'' insurance pay-off exemption, will be put into effect in July after collecting opinions from various circles, officials said.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldm.com)