The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to exempt seasonal foreign workers from paying for insurance for long-term geriatric care. Shown are such laborers harvesting cabbages at a farm in Goesan-gun County, Chungcheongbuk-do Province. (Goesan-gun Office)

By Aisylu Akhmetzianova

Foreign seasonal workers hired for a short period in agriculture or fisheries will no longer have to pay for insurance for long-term geriatric care, reports say.

Yonhap News and other domestic media on Feb. 4 said the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced a partial amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Long-Term Care Insurance Act containing this content.

The revision will essentially exempt laborers from abroad on the E-8 (seasonal work) visa from paying for such insurance.

Under law, if a foreign worker is eligible for national health insurance coverage as an employee, he or she is automatically charged premiums for long-term geriatric care insurance. Seasonal staff from abroad, however, often have short stays and thus cannot benefit from such coverage.

The exemption is expected to ease the economic burden of foreign workers and cut costs for owners of farming or fishery businesses who employ such laborers.

aisylu@korea.kr