[단독] “We need to raise the National Pension Insurance premium rate to 22%”

A national research institute has analyzed that the insurance premium rate, which is currently 9% of monthly income, should be more than doubled to more than 21% in order to delay the national pension financial depletion crisis as much as possible. Despite the public’s strong psychological resistance to the “pay more, get less” reform plan, there is expected to be a significant impact if the insurance premium rate is raised so drastically.

According to the 11th policy circle, the Korean Institute of Health and Social Affairs (HISA) recently submitted a research report to the National Assembly Legislation Research Service to stabilize the national pension finances. The report suggested raising the insurance premium rate (currently 9%) to above 21% as a key measure to stabilize national pension finances. The premium rate was set at 3% in 1988 when the national pension system was launched. Subsequently, it rose to 6% in 1993 and 9% in 1998, but there was no increase for 24 years after that. There has been an analysis that if the current national pension system is maintained amid the trend of low birth rate and aging population, the budget will be depleted by 2057.

The average insurance premium rate of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries is 18.2%, more than double that of Korea. As a result, the Yoon Seok-yeol administration made pension reforms, including the national pension, one of the top three reforms this year, along with jobs and education.

In this survey, the Korea Health Insurance Institute set the standard for financial stability as “2093 Accumulation Multiplier”. This means that the insurance premium rate needs to be raised by more than 12 percentage points in order to create a financial condition where enrollees can receive pensions for two years without having to collect additional premiums over 70 years. This plan attracts attention as it is much more radical than the previous influential plan to raise the rate by 0.5 percentage point each year from 2025 to 15% in 2036. As a result, discussions about insurance premium rates are expected to become a hot topic in the future reform process led by the National Assembly’s Special Commission on Pension Reform.

According to estimates by Yoon Seok-myung, a researcher at the National Institute of Health and Welfare, who is responsible for the research, if the insurance premium rate and the payment period remain unchanged, the financial balance of the national pension will turn into a deficit by 2040. The annual deficit is expected to grow like a snowball, posting 85 trillion won in 2050, 159 trillion won in 2060 and 200 trillion won in 2070.

However, the Korean Health Insurance Service has presented a scenario for a gradual increase, saying that if the insurance premium rate is raised a lot at once, a big shock is expected for the public. The report included a plan to raise the insurance premium rate by the same amount each year from next year to 2028 and eventually raise it to 21.89%, and a plan to raise it each year from next year but set a target of 22.63%. % by 2033 . A plan has also been proposed to increase the rate of the insurance premium twice a year.

[이희조 기자]