Overseas residents paid $1.90b in premiums against $1.14b in medical costs.
South Korea’s national health insurance balance for foreign residents recorded a record surplus exceeding $754.8m (KRW1.01t) last year.
Foreign nationals paid $1.90b (KRW2.54t) in insurance premiums whilst the NHIS covered $1.14b (KRW1.52t) in medical costs, according to National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) data, as reported by the Korea Times.
This resulted in a total surplus of $756.1m (KRW1.01t), up from $706.7m (KRW943.9b) the previous year.
It marks the first time the annual surplus for foreign policyholders has passed the $747.5m (KRW1t) threshold, extending a continuous surplus streak that began in 2017.
Despite the overall growth, the balance for Chinese nationals moved into a deficit of $30.6m (KRW40.9b) last year, reversing a $4.1m (KRW5.5b) surplus from the year before.
Insurance premiums collected from Chinese residents totalled $716.1m (KRW956.4b), whereas medical expenses paid out by the NHIS reached $746.7m (KRW997.3b).
The Chinese account had previously run a deficit for seven consecutive years starting in 2017 before briefly returning to a surplus in 2024.
Other nationalities contributed positively to the balance. Foreign residents from Vietnam generated the largest surplus at $119.9m (KRW160.1b), followed by those from Nepal at $94.5m (KRW126.2b) and Indonesia at $68.7m (KRW91.8b).
($1 = KRW1,335.8)