For a welfare system for the aged in the Republic of Korea, it is expected
to bε a very serious social problem in a short time. It is keenly needed that
the government fully understands this phenomenon, and that every ministry
cooperates to deal w...
For a welfare system for the aged in the Republic of Korea, it is expected
to bε a very serious social problem in a short time. It is keenly needed that
the government fully understands this phenomenon, and that every ministry
cooperates to deal with the problem. In particular, in order to minimize trial
and error of the welfare measures for the aged in the coming aging society,
actual conditions of the aged should be regularly checked up on whether
thεre is any aged person who needs long term medical care, or who has
desires to receive benefits from welfare system. Based on its result, it is
necessary to review the current welfare policy for the elderly, to work out a
Comprehensive Plan for the Welfare of the Aged Welfare(CPWA), to better
the system to carry on, to expand and improve facilities, and to nurture
professionals.
The Welfare Policy for the Aged(WPA) and the Welfare Law for the
Aged(WLA) have been developed in various ways according to each
country’s social, economic and political conditions. The Korean government
has enforced a medical insurance system since 1977, and it has declared it
would realize practical policies for the aged by revising the WLA on June 5,
1981.
The WLA is usually divided into at least five sectors: an income security
system, a medical insurance system, an in-home welfare system, a facility
protection system, and a preference system for the aged. In spite of these
systems, however, only a few efforts have been madε to deal with problems
of the elderly and to make out a plan for the welfare for the aged. What is
worse, even the current welfare policies have tumεd out to have little effect.
In other countries, most elder1y get benefits from income security of the
public pension system. These are thanks to each government’ s effort to
tackle the poverty problem of the aged through practical income security
policy in order to satisfy desires for welfare against economic difficulties,
and to find out ways to make the elderly independent. The U.S. government
secures a variety of income for the aged according to their levels of income,
allowing those above 65 years old to get benefits from an income security
policy. The U.K. government secures income for all the citizens with a
national insurance system. The Japanese government carries out a public
pension system targeting all the elderly, allowing those with even a little bit
of economic power to get the benefits from a public pension starting from
the age of 65. The Korean government, however, does not satisfy the desire
for welfare of the aged suffering from economic difficulties, and even worse,
it has failed to deal with the economic difficulties of poor and low income
families, weakening the situation.
Therefore, with the aging society in the 21st century, it is a social and
governmental task to make the elderly live a better life in the future, and to
lessen its burden on family responsibility, enhancing the quality of life of
people. Now is the time for the Korean government to carry out a public
pension system for the aged above 65 years old as seen in the other
countries’ cases, and to put its whole energy into developing welfare policies
and services for the aged.