Soaring health insurance subscriptions by Koreans overseas is having a deteriorating effect on Korea& 039 s health care fund.

Subscription qualifications have eased considerably this year, and the National Health Insurance Corporation says close to 67-hundred Koreans without Korean citizenship, residing overseas, have taken out insurance policies in the year& 039 s first half.

For an average 59-thousand-800 won, or 55 dollars a month, ethnic Koreans can return to Korea to be treated for serious ailments like cancer at a far lower cost than in the U.S. or Europe.

Critics say the eased regulations should be tightened, citing their negative effects on the insurance fund that ran a deficit last year and the issue of fairness in regards to Korean nationals.