“I earned 1.3 billion won a year…” Famous singer A and webtoon writer B reveal shocking cases

Is this a trick of high-income freelancers to get health insurance premiums reduced?

There are endless cases of high-income freelancers being reduced for requesting adjustments to reduce health insurance premiums. Among them are famous singer A and webtoon writer B, which is shocking.

According to the data provided by the National Health Insurance Service to Assemblywoman Choi Hye-young’s office (under the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee) on May 3rd, 6,651 freelancers with an annual income of more than 100 million won have been reduced using the “regional health insurance premium adjustment system” over the past 3 years.

Here, freelancers work under free contracts without a specific affiliation, and the number of adjustments and the number of applicants does not exactly match because there are cases where one freelancer applied for several jobs.

Singer A earned 1.355 billion won in 2020, but he was exempted from health insurance premiums the following year as he was recognized for having made no money after applying for adjustment. Webtoon writer B also earned 1.02 billion won in 2020, but his income was also considered as 0 won.

Such strange situations happen because of the regional insurance premium adjustment system. Unlike office subscribers whose health insurance premiums are imposed only on their income for the current year, regional subscribers are charged with health insurance premiums not only for their income but also for property and vehicles. 

At this time, the regional subscriber income charged for insurance premiums that freelancers earned is not the income of the current year but that from the previous year. These people are sensitive to the economy and often earn less this year than the previous year. 

Accordingly, the National Health Insurance Service operates a system that adjusts insurance premiums when regional subscribers submit data such as proof of business closure, proof of reduction in income amount, and proof of retirement.