Increase in maternity medical benefits
 
The reimbursement of costs for maternity care at non-designated medical institutions has increased from KRW 66,000 to KRW 270,000 for the first delivery and from KRW 61,000 to KRW 65,000 for the second and subsequent deliveries.

Extended duration of sickness benefits
 
The period over which medical care benefits are paid has been extended from 210 to 240 days a year. There is no longer a maximum duration for people with disabilities and those aged over 65.

Increased rate of benefit
 
Workers who are laid-off or put onto shorter hours will now receive unemployment benefits at the rate of 60 per cent of insurable weekly earnings for the entire 26 weeks that the benefit is paid.

Sickness benefit reforms
 
Draft legislation has been prepared which includes the following changes to sickness benefits:

- the introduction of a minimum period of contributions to qualify for sickness benefit;
- the payment of sickness benefits by employers for a certain number of days depending on the number of employees;
- the calculation of sickness benefit based on the level of income over the previous six months as used for the calculation of contributions;
- the setting of benefits at a single percentage of previous earnings (for example, 75 per cent) as opposed to the current system where the percentage of previous income ranges from 50 to 85 per cent according to the length of employment); and
- the requirement that sickness benefit recipients participate in rehabilitation programs and, for cases of temporary incapacity of more than 90 days, the allocation of funds for re-training.

New draft law on social security reform
 
The Romanian government has approved a draft law on pensions and social security which will now be debated by parliament. The intention of the proposed reforms is to establish a single public pension and social security system guaranteed by the state.