In island villages of Ganghwa County, Incheon, and mountain villages of Pyeongchang County, Gangwon, mail carriers' bags will now carry more than just mail. The Ministry of Health and Welfare (Minister Jung Eun-kyeong) signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea Post on October 29 for a pilot project called "Geunyang Dream delivered by mail carriers." On the same day, it also announced simplified online applications for the Basic Pension and a legislative notice of draft amendments to subordinate regulations under four welfare benefit laws. The ministry described the latter two measures as part of an effort to "shift from an application-based system to proactive welfare."
The ministry defines "proactive welfare" as a system in which the central and local governments themselves find and verify eligible people and then provide welfare services.
The mail carrier pilot project will run in 10 cities, counties and districts nationwide. The list includes Seodaemun-gu and Dongdaemun-gu in Seoul, Buk-gu in Busan, Ganghwa County in Incheon, Gwangmyeong and Bucheon in Gyeonggi Province, Pyeongchang County in Gangwon, Gimcheon in North Gyeongsang Province, Wanju County in North Jeolla Province and Yeongdong County in North Chungcheong Province. It is aimed at residents who have difficulty getting to a Geunyang Dream corner in person because of limited mobility or because they live on islands or in remote areas. The ministry describes Geunyang Dream as a program that can be used without complicated income verification procedures.
To use the service, residents apply to the local government where they live. A mail carrier then brings the goods to their home, and as a rule the recipient receives them in person. Application channels vary by region, with some handled by the city, county or district office and others by eup, myeon or dong administrative welfare centers or the Welfare Crisis Alert app.
Mail carriers will connect recipients to additional welfare services based on signs of crisis they notice while making deliveries.
Applying for the Basic Pension has also become much easier. From October 30, when applying online through Bokjiro, a spouse can give consent to the provision of financial information by mobile phone. Applicants without supporting documents can complete the application first and submit the documents later.
Eligibility for the Basic Pension is determined by assessing the income and assets of both the applicant and their spouse. For this reason, both had to consent to the provision of financial information, and applicants were often asked for additional documents. The ministry cited these two factors as the reasons for the low use of online applications. Bokjiro lists information on about 460 welfare programs run by central government ministries, but only 55 of them accept applications online.
The laws will also be revised. The ministry will give legislative notice of partial amendments to the enforcement decrees and enforcement rules of the Social Security Benefits Act, the National Basic Living Security Act, the Child Allowance Act and the Disability Pension Act from October 30 to December 9. The amendments specify who is eligible for ex officio applications, in which public officials apply on a person's behalf, and revise the payment procedures for the child allowance and other benefits. For the disability pension, they expand the deemed application system and widen the scope of information linkage.
The amendments include a procedure for paying benefits after verifying a bank account even if a guardian has not applied. The detailed procedures and forms needed to operate the deemed application system will also be revised.
Geunyang Dream delivery and the simplified Basic Pension process are closer to lowering the threshold for applying. Contacting a local government office or logging on to Bokjiro is still something the individuals concerned must do themselves. Ex officio applications, deemed applications and payment after account verification are methods by which benefits are paid without an application form once the administration has verified an eligible person.
To actually reduce welfare blind spots, discovery by mail carriers and verification by the administration must work together. Only when signs of crisis that a mail carrier notices at the doorstep of a home in an island village of Ganghwa County are passed on to the administration's verification process will benefits reach people who lack even the energy to fill out an application form.
Comments on the draft amendments to the subordinate regulations will be accepted until December 9. The changes to the Basic Pension began sooner. Starting today, the spouse of a person applying for the Basic Pension through Bokjiro can complete consent to the provision of financial information on their own mobile phone.
