The government and the ruling party have agreed to include migrant workers in the state-run medical insurance system that makes it compulsory for employers to pay half of a worker`s health insurance payments.

The expansion of health insurance is expected to take effect next year after approval by the National Assembly, Uri Party lawmaker Rhee Mok-hee said yesterday.

"(The new system) may add burden to companies hiring migrant workers but we concluded that it is a matter of course for the nation to match the international standard on safeguarding human rights," Rhee said.

The party and the government will submit a bill to revise the health insurance law in June. The new rule will be applied to foreign workers who enter the nation after it takes effect.

Illegal workers will not be allowed to sign up for national health insurance.

The decision was made during a meeting between the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the ruling party to coordinate policies for healthcare and pensions. Health and Welfare Minister Kim Geun-tae attended the meeting.

Under the current law, only foreign employees with general work permits qualify for compulsory health insurance while those without proper work permits are not covered. And, even those with work permits are often excluded from the health insurance due to company situations and ignorance of such a system.

The government estimates more than 250,000 foreigners work in Korea.

Uri has been pushing the revision since January after a controversy involving female Thai workers who suffered paralysis as a result of a long-term exposure to hexane.

The Thai workers were paralyzed from the waist down after working in a liquid crystal display equipment factory without proper safety measures. The case focused attention on the plight foreign employees suffering from industrial illnesses due to the lack of safety measures and medical treatment.

The number of foreign workers suffering from work-related injury or illness has grown steadily with nearly 2,350 migrant workers reported in 2003. A bigger problem was that most of these migrant workers were unable to receive appropriate treatment.

Uri lawmaker Kim Choon-jin proposed a bill in February to include even the illegal employees in the compulsory health insurance system, but the government and Uri has narrowed the scope as illegal workers are reluctant to make themselves known to the government.

"We think that the new law may encourage some illegal workers to join the legal workers` league to receive regular health checkups, and hopefully more will receive benefits with time," Kim, also a member of the parliamentary health and welfare committee, told The Korea Herald.

(hayney@heraldm.com)







By Shin Hae-in