저출생·초고령사회와 노인장기요양보험법의 헌법적 쟁점에 관한 시론 ― 헌법재판소 결정을 중심으로 ― = A Discussion on the Constitutional Issues of Low Birth Rate, Aging Society and the Elderly Long-Term Care Insurance Act ― Focusing on the Constitutional Court Decision ―

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

One of the social agendas that has recently been attracting attention is ‘low birth rate and aging society.’ Population imbalance is not just a problem in Korea. However, this is a serious problem in that our country is heading towards a ‘population cliff’ crisis at an unprecedentedly rapid pace in the world.
Approximately 20% of the total population is elderly, and it can be seen that the number of elderly people requiring long-term care is increasing as they find it difficult to carry out daily activities on their own in old age. The country has already seriously recognized the need for ‘socialization of long-term care’ and has been implementing a long-term care insurance system for the elderly since 2008, although it is comparatively late. However, although long-term care is most closely related to human dignity, the scale of the system is small compared to other social insurance and is far from social and national interest. Population aging is rapidly intensifying, and the number of people needing long-term care will increase rapidly in the next few years. The number of beneficiaries of long-term care insurance for the elderly has already exceeded 1 million in 2020, and according to the “3rd Long-Term Care Basic Plan (2023-2027)” of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Long-Term Care Committee, the number of beneficiaries will reach 1.45 million in 2027. is expected. It is questionable whether the public long-term care system for the elderly is well-equipped and operating faithfully amid such low birth rate and aging society phenomena.
Despite the importance of the Elderly Long-Term Care Insurance Act, which is threatened by population imbalance, and the timeliness of discussion, there is still not much constitutional research on it. The reason is that in constitutional law, discussions on individual social security laws are still limited, the relatively short history of the introduction of the Elderly Long-Term Care Insurance Act, and in practice, the scope of constitutional issues is narrow due to the special nature of long-term care insurance for the elderly. However, the Constitution is the highest legal norm in the country, and the Social Security Act cannot deviate from the constitutional principles or principles, and the Long-Term Care Insurance for the Elderly Act, which is a social security law, is also related to the Constitution in terms of the welfare state and the realization of basic social rights. In addition, with the acceleration of population imbalance, it is likely that it will be recognized as a major social agenda in the future, and there is ample room for constitutional disputes to arise. Constitutional Law and the Constitutional Court should be able to raise specific constitutional legal principles so that the state can guarantee the rights of the people when operating social security policies, especially long-term care insurance for the elderly, thereby improving the public's credibility in the system and social security. You should be able to increase your understanding of insurance. Only at this time can the awareness-leading and educational functions of the Constitution be realized. Recognizing that most previous studies related to the Elderly Long-Term Care Insurance Act are discussed at a legal or policy level, and that there are not many studies that focus on constitutional issues, one of the approaches to constitutional research is to criticize or criticize the decision of the Constitutional Court. Let’s take a supplementary look. The purpose of this was to raise the issue of future constitutional discussions on long-term care insurance for the elderly. The introduction has been lengthened to explain the lack of active national, social, and national interest compared to the timeliness and gravity of the problem, but this discussion will inevitably occur with the deepening aging society and the Constitution regarding the expansion of beneficiaries under the Elderly Long-Term Care Insurance Act and its burden. I hope that it can function as a poetic theory for political discussion.