South Korea will keep next year’s national health insurance premium rate at 7.19%, reversing to a freeze after raising the rate this year following a three-year freeze. Workplace subscribers and employers will continue sharing the contribution equally, leaving employees to pay 3.595% of monthly wages. For an employee earning 4 million won a month, the contribution will remain 143,800 won, although payments will rise if wages increase. The property-based calculation standard for regional subscribers will also remain unchanged at 211.5 won. The government cited five consecutive years of annual health insurance surpluses, an expected 1.1 trillion won increase in national treasury support and about 3.8 trillion won in additional workplace premium income linked to the semiconductor industry. However, the fund is projected to post a 2.8374 trillion won deficit this year, with reserves falling from 30.2 trillion won to 27.3844 trillion won. Earlier fiscal projections warned reserves could be depleted by 2031, potentially requiring annual premium increases of more than 2% from 2028 to 2030.