Appellate court rules in favor of gay couple seeking spousal health insurance coverage

SEOUL, Feb. 21 (Yonhap) -- An appellate court on Tuesday ruled in favor of a same-sex couple demanding the same spousal coverage from the state health insurance program as heterosexual couples.

The Seoul High Court delivered the landmark ruling, overturning a lower court's decision that marriage in South Korea is considered a union between a man and a woman, and there are no legal grounds to expand the concept to same-sex couples.

The appeals court did not give a specific reason for its decision.

The plaintiff, So Seong-wook, filed the administrative lawsuit against the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) in February 2021, after the agency ordered him to pay insurance premiums as he is not qualified as a dependent of his male spouse.

The NHIS had first granted him coverage under his partner's employer-based health insurance program as a dependent in February 2020, but it later reversed the decision citing their same-sex marriage, according to So.

So claimed he and his partner were discriminated against, as the NHIS grants spousal coverage to common-law partners.

South Korea by law does not legally recognize same-sex marriages.

pbr@yna.co.kr
(END)