Corona compensation is also low? What about the government against the bill, Tae-nyeon Kim

Amid the news that a self-employed person committed suicide due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), the passport pulled out the “loss compensation” card. It is a policy to compensate small business owners and self-employed persons who suffered business losses due to the government’s quarantine policy.

The signal was shot by Kim Tae-nyeon, the leader of the Democratic Party. He said at the Democratic Party’s Supreme Council on the 11th, “We will review the establishment of institutional measures to compensate and support business losses for small business owners and self-employed persons at the level of the National Assembly due to the pandemic.” It was the first time that a person in charge of the passport mentioned the loss compensation system. Then, Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myeong wrote on Facebook on the next day, “We welcome Kim Tae-nyeon’s review of compensation for the loss of self-employed persons.”

The loss compensation system is different from the disaster subsidies discussed until the 4th payment discussion. The key is not to give a certain amount of money by selecting a specific target or business type, but to calculate the size of the operating loss according to the actual government’s quarantine measures and to compensate for the damage. Businesses that are prohibited from gathering, such as gyms, karaoke rooms, and academies, are typical.

As the corona continues to prolong, the damage to self-employed people is increasing like a snowball. According to statistics from the National Statistical Office, as of November last year, the number of self-employed workers was 6,653,000, or 24.1% of the total employed (27241,000). Too many people are suffering damage to be regarded as the damage of a specific occupation.

Conversely, financially solving this problem requires considerable financial resources. According to the data submitted by the National Assembly Budget Office in July of last year to the Office of the People’s Power Yoon Doo-hyun, the cost of compensation for losses for small business owners is difficult to estimate. The reason was that’the possibility of future outbreaks of infectious diseases and its impact is difficult to estimate at the present time, making it difficult to determine the size of support.’

The problem is that even though the need for compensation for losses has already been raised in the opposition, the passport has not discussed much for six months. The current Infectious Disease Prevention and Management Act (Infectious Disease Prevention Act) stipulates compensation for losses in Article 70. This provision was based on the case of the 2015 MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome·MERS) incident when 17.8 billion won was confirmed as compensation for losses from medical institutions.

Rep. Doo-Hyun Yoon proposed an amendment in July last year to extend the compensation for losses under Article 70 of the Infectious Disease Prevention Act to not only existing medical institutions, but also self-employed and small business owners. It was after the first corona epidemic swept in Daegu and Gyeongbuk. However, the bill was blocked during the discussion of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee.

Gang-tae, the second vice minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, appeared in the Legislative Review Subcommittee on November 25 last year, saying, “Because it is difficult to determine the target or scope item (in the amendment) in detail, and it is difficult to calculate the amount of loss, it is also possible not to consider the national finances. “No,” he said, “it seems that careful discussion is needed.” As the vice minister of the ministry, he was in a position that it would be difficult to deal with the bill.

At that time, the positions of the government departments in the review report prepared by an expert member of the Health and Welfare Committee were similar. The Ministry of Health and Welfare was a’careful review’, and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said, “It is against the purpose of the law to pay compensation for losses in consideration of operating profits for workplaces other than medical institutions that directly quarantine and treat infectious disease patients.”

Like the conflict between the Democratic Party and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, which is in charge of the payment of disaster subsidies, there is also a possibility that the Party’s positions will be different regarding the expansion of the loss compensation system. Rep. Doo-Hyun Yoon said, “If a rational discussion began when the bill was first submitted six months ago, it would have been better to respond reasonably when the damage of self-employed people increased as it is now.” .

However, there are also concerns that the government’s fiscal burden will be a huge burden if the bill is processed in a hurry. Jeon Sam-hyun, a professor of law at Soongsil University, said, “It is difficult to accurately define who has suffered and how much damage in reality, so it may violate the principle of clarity that is important in the rule of law. If not, it can flow into populism (popularism).”

Reporter Heo Jin [email protected]