This paper examines the effects of the sharp increase in Korea’s minimum wage in 2018 on income and protection-type insurance consumption among low-wage workers, using panel data from waves 7–12 of the National Survey of Tax and Benefit. To identify causal effects, I employ a difference-in-differences(DID) framework, complemented by event-study specifications and synthetic difference-in-differences (SDID) estimators. The results show that the minimum wage hike significantly increased both individual labor income and total household income among affected workers. At the individual level, there is no evidence of a significant expansion in new insurance enrollment; however, existing policyholders exhibit a statistically significant rise in premium payments, indicating an intensification of coverage. At the household level, the reform led to a meaningful rise in insurance market entry among previously uninsured households, particularly those with a high share of minimum-wage income. These findings suggest that income gains from the minimum wage increase were partly allocated toward strengthening private risk protection, consistent with a precautionary motive among low-wage workers. At the same time, the results raise concerns about potential regressive redistribution embedded in insurance pricing structures, highlighting the need to incorporate distributional considerations into insurance product design and regulatory frameworks.