CHANGWON — The city of Changwon in South Gyeongsang Province has uncovered 240 cases of fraudulent claims under the personal assistance service for people with disabilities and clawed back about 2.18 billion won ($1.6 million) in benefits. The city will use the recovered funds to expand care support for people with severe disabilities to about 4 billion won next year.
Changwon said on the 29th that the findings came from an intensive inspection of fraudulent claims under the personal assistance service conducted from June last year through July this year.
After setting up a dedicated investigation system around May last year, the city analyzed electronic voucher payment records to detect irregularities and conducted on-site inspections at the same time. The inspections found cases in which providers billed for more hours than they had actually worked, as well as cases in which a service provider and a user each billed for benefits. Also uncovered were cases in which a person divorced on paper and then registered a former spouse as a personal assistant to claim benefits improperly.
The personal assistance service connects people with disabilities who have difficulty with daily and social activities to assistants who help with physical care and household tasks. About 3,500 people in Changwon currently use the service, and this year's budget for the program is 95 billion won, accounting for roughly half of the city's welfare budget for people with disabilities.
Changwon plans to expand support to about 4 billion won next year, drawing on the recovered benefits and natural reductions in program spending. It will first add 300 people who live alone or largely alone among those with severe disabilities who had been cut off from new support since the disability grading system was overhauled in July 2019. For bedridden people with severe disabilities who need round-the-clock care, the city will lift the previous cap of 12 recipients and expand support according to the level of care needed, without a separate quota.
The city is also strengthening preventive education and oversight. In April this year, Changwon held eight training sessions at 20 personal assistance provider agencies, briefing 2,260 assistants on actual fraud cases and proper billing procedures. That amounts to about 77% of the roughly 2,900 assistants in the city. The city also sent notices to some 3,500 service users, telling them not to hand their voucher cards to others and to bill only for the hours of service they actually received.
Self-inspection systems at provider agencies are being revised as well. Reviews previously focused on submitted paperwork, but going forward the city will examine suspicious patterns such as duplicate payments or unusually long billing periods, and will also verify the relationship between users and their assistants.
"Correcting fraudulent claims is about protecting the funds needed for the care of people with disabilities," Changwon Mayor Kang Ki-yun said. "We will respond firmly to fraud while protecting assistants who work in good faith, and make sure the money we save goes to people with disabilities who need more help."
