The total budget of the Ministry of Health and Welfare for 2022 is confirmed at 97.47 trillion won(over US$ 100 Billion), accounting for 16% of the entire government budget. It is an increase of 7.90 trillion won (8.8%) from the 2021 budget (89.57 trillion won).
The proportion of government support for health insurance revenue is slightly increased by 0.1%, an increase of 100 billion won, in a total of 10.49 trillion won. Also, 8,123.2 billion won will be spent on Medical Aid with the abolition of the standard for dependents for those eligible for Medical Aid benefits, an increase of 5.8% compared to the previous year. The budget for COVID-19 response has been increased to a total of 1.43 trillion won by 590.3 billion won for policy measures such as supporting medical personnel at public health centers, providing home treatment, and so on.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare also plans a pilot project for sickness benefits as one of 15 major policy agendas. Applying three models to six regions from July 2022, the MOHW aims to evaluate the policy effects for further implementation. Therefore, each of the three models sets different subject criteria, minimum application dates, and maximum benefit durations. In this project, which invests 11 billion won, all models pay a flat amount per diem to ‘workers who are unable to work due to illness or injury unrelated to their occupation’ according to the number of days unable to work.
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