Excluding Humanitarian Residents from Local Health Insurance is a Human Rights Violation”
- Right to Enjoy Healthful Life is a Universal Right of Mankind -
o The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (Chairperson Hyun Byung-Chul) delivered a recommendation to the Minister of Health and Welfare that supporting provision should be developed to prevent humanitarian residents and his/her family to be excluded from local health insurances, upon deciding that current local health insurance policy violates the right to a safe and healthy life, a fundamental right in the pursuit of human dignity and happy life, of humanitarian residents and his/her family in accordance with the Refugee Act.
o The NHRCK received a complaint on 11 January 2013 that a family with residence permit for humanitarian reasons living in Korea could not provide medical treatment to the children (total of three, age of five, four and two each) because of exorbitant medical cost, due to the fact that they weren‘t able to purchase local health insurance.
o The inquiry has shown that a person with a residence permit for humanitarian reasons was considered as a foreigner who does not meet the requirements to apply for local health insurance in accordance with Article 76(2) of the Executive Order of the National Health Insurance Act, warranting measures to protect their right to health.
o Humanitarian residents in Korea (176 as of Sep. 2013) are persons who were granted residence permit by the Korean government based on the grounds that they face possible acts of torture, inhumane treatment or punishment, or other threats in their home countries, which may seriously violate their rights including freedom of life or person. For long, they have been suffering from difficulties to maintain healthy lives because they have been isolated from the domestic health insurance system.
o The Ministry of Health and Welfare stated that humanitarian health insurance on a national level was sufficient for the protection of the group, as there were concerns that, if they are allowed into the local health insurance program, they would not be able to make proper payments for health insurance fees because they are financially poor.
o The NHRCK decided, however, that the purpose of humanitarian residence policy, which is to provide humanitarian protection, will not be met if humanitarian residents staying in Korea for a longer term should suffer inadequate medical treatment due to exorbitant medical costs because they could not apply for local health insurance programs, stating that it is only reasonable to provide humanitarian residents with the opportunity to apply for local health insurance programs because one cannot solely rely on outright predictions concerning the group‘s capacity to bear the costs rising from joining local health insurances.
o ‘Dignity and value as a human being,‘ as provided in Article 10 of the Korean Constitution, is a fundamental right that applies to all mankind irrespective of citizens or foreigners, and the State assumes the responsibility to ensure individual rights that are fundamental and as well as inviolable.
o Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, to which Korea is a party, recognizes ＂the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health,＂ and elaborates on the measures to fully realize the right as such for state parties to the Covenant.
o Also, Article 24 and 26 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health, stating that States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services, and that State Parties shall recognize for every child ＂the right to benefit from social security, including social insurance, and shall take the necessary measures to achieve the full realization of this right.＂
o As such, the right to safe and healthy life is a universal right before it is a right of the citizens, that applies to all people residing in Korea. This right becomes particularly essential in light of vulnerable circumstances including humanitarian residence.
o The NHRCK therefore has decided that relevant measures should be taken to improve current policies which deny humanitarian residents the access to medical treatment because of exorbitant medical costs, and provide them with access to medical treatment at a minimum cost during their period of stay in Korea.
