The Ministry of Health and Welfare has established specific administrative guidelines to allow elderly individuals who were excluded from the basic pension due to increased income or assets to have their eligibility re-evaluated if their financial circumstances change in the future.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 17th that it has administratively pre-announced a partial amendment to the 'Notification on the Selection Criteria Amount, Standard Pension Amount, and Detailed Standards for Calculating Recognized Income for Basic Pension Recipients.'

Strengthening the Effectiveness of the Benefit Application History Management System This amendment aims to enhance the effectiveness of the 'Benefit Application History Management System' and clarify the requirements for review, in line with the revision of the Enforcement Decree of the Basic Pension Act. The system targets seniors who were excluded at the time of application for exceeding the selection criteria; if their income or assets subsequently change, the government guides them to reapply for benefits.

Under current regulations, if a history management applicant is later confirmed to be eligible, they are deemed to have newly applied for the basic pension on the date of confirmation, and the payment process begins immediately. Article 13 of the revised notification stipulates specific conditions under which the government must re-verify eligibility when data used to calculate the applicant's 'recognized income' — which includes income and assets — is newly confirmed or altered through administrative networks. Recognized income is calculated by combining monthly earned income and owned assets according to government standards.

Rising Trend of 'Mid-Term Exclusions' Due to Income and Asset Increases Recently, there has been a growing trend of seniors being dropped from the basic pension recipient list mid-term due to increases in income and assets. According to data obtained by Representative Kim Mi-ae of the People Power Party from the National Pension Service, the number of individuals excluded from eligibility due to income and asset increases surged by 59.6%, from 52,000 in 2021 to 83,000 in 2024. During the same period, the proportion of income and asset increases among all mid-term exclusion cases also rose from 17.4% to 21.3%.

In particular, rising real estate values, including housing and land, have been cited as a major cause of the increase in exclusions. As of 2024, individuals excluded from the basic pension due to income and asset increases were concentrated in the metropolitan area, with 17,000 in Gyeonggi Province and 11,000 in Seoul.

Growing Need to Raise Selection Criteria and Subcategorize Exclusion Reasons Accordingly, the Ministry of Health and Welfare raised the basic pension selection criteria this year to 2.47 million won per month for single-person households, an increase of 190,000 won (8.3%) from the previous year.

However, some point out that administrative statistics do not categorize the causes of asset changes for excluded seniors in detail, requiring improvement. In political circles, opinions have been raised that it is necessary to subcategorize and manage exclusion reasons, such as earned income, financial income, and general assets. The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to immediately re-examine eligibility whenever asset data of seniors with a registered application history changes, in order to reduce blind spots. This notification amendment is scheduled to take effect on July 30, following the administrative pre-announcement process.