April 8, 2024
By Chaerin Lee
Recent years have seen a steady rise in cases of people in Korea either lacking health insurance eligibility or resorting to borrowing or stealing health insurance cards from others to obtain prescription drugs. The instances of borrowing or stealing health insurance cards have increased consistently, with 32,605 cases in 2021, 30,771 cases in 2022, and 40,418 cases in 2023.
In a bid to tackle this issue, a new law has been enacted. According to the Korea National Health Insurance Act announced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, starting from May 20, 2024, when healthcare facilities provide medical services covered by health insurance to insured individuals or dependents, they must strengthen identity verification through a system called 'Healthcare Facility Identity Verification Enhancement'.
When registering for treatment at hospitals, individuals can present documents such as resident registration cards, driver's licenses, passports, national veterans registration cards, disability registration cards, or foreigner registration cards. However, those under 19 years old or emergency patients can still register using their resident registration numbers as before.
There's also an option for those who forget their resident registration cards. By installing the 'Mobile Health Insurance Card' developed by the National Health Insurance Service of Korea, individuals can easily register by downloading the app and verifying their identity.