국민기초생활 보장법상 수급요건으로서 부양의무자기준에 대한 고찰

Review on the Obligatory Provider Criteria as an Eligibility Requirements of the National Basic Living Security Act

This paper examines the problems of the eligibility requirements of the current National Basic Living Security Act and looks for desirable improvement measures, focusing on the Obligatory Provider Criteria which refers to the family member s obligation of support before the payment of benefits. the National Basic Living Security Act aims to ensure the minimum level of living for the deprived and help them support themselves by furnishing them with the required benefits. Whereas, according to the Principles for Benefits, the benefits under the Act shall be provided on the premise that the recipients of benefits exert their upmost efforts to maintain and improve their life by making the most of their income, property and their ability to work, etc., and that the benefits serve only as a supplement to such efforts. Moreover, the support by obligatory providers shall prevail over the benefits provided under the Act. However, current Obligatory Provider Criteria easily recognizes the ability of support of the support obligator. Also, The Criteria not only determines whether a person can be a qualified recipient based on the possibility of dependency, rather than an evaluation of whether the person is actually receiving support, but also make it difficult to be acknowledged that the support obligator is either avoiding or refusing support. As a result, the Obligatory Provider Criteria is becoming a major factor preventing many people from being protected by the Act. In other words, due to the Obligatory Provider Criteria, the basic principles of the public assistance has not been realized. Citizens are not guaranteed the minimum level of living in accordance with their specific situations so that the National Basic Living Security Act does not fulfill the principle of universality and individuality. Furthermore, it is difficult to evaluate positively from the point of view of subsidiarity principle, since the Obligatory Provider Criteria does not make reference to whether person in charge of support is indeed supporting. In order to solve the problems, it is necessary to abolish the Obligatory Provider Criteria. However, in view of the financial issues caused by the sudden abolition, gradual easing and exclusion of the Criteria should be preceded. In addition, the efforts should be made to provide an environment in which individuals can take responsibility for their own lives and to prevent the escape of property or early donations or inheritance for fraud.