Over a quarter of a million dependents of employer-sponsored health insurance subscribers will be required to sign up for insurance themselves starting next month.

According to the health ministry and the National Health Insurance Service on Tuesday, some 273-thousand dependents who currently do not contribute to the service will have to pay for themselves after insurance reforms transfer them to the local subscription service.

The latest reform measure requires dependents of employer-sponsored subscribers with a taxable annual income of more than 20 million won to be transferred to the local subscription system.

The transition is in accordance with the second phase of insurance reforms that went into effect in September.