Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Eazy_E]

Indeed, it seems as though you can't get free of the Korean Health Plan once you've signed up. The only instance in which you can is if you finish / break your contract and leave the country, then re-enter. Looks like I'm in for the rest of my time here.

I told my boss that I felt I was paying too much, and that I know of people who make more than I do and pay less. He feels that it's a case of under-reporting income. He assured me that he is paying his share as well. He hasn't lied to me before (that I'm aware of).

I guess I'll just have to swallow hard and pay. One mistake that other newbies should be aware of before they come to Korea. Extended health insurance from a travel agency is a much better deal.

[harryh]

The korean Health Insurance Plan can be confusing. I'm not convinced that the NHIC offices know exactly the situation regarding foreigners. Maybe each region interpret the rules differently.

I had health insurance on Geoje island for one year, which I paid into-no probs.

Once the contract finished, I moved to another school on the island. As there was a change of sponsorship, I didn't have to do a visa run. Unfortunately, the new boss didn't organise my health insurance, although I gave him my booklet. The job finished within five months.

Then, I got another job, but this time I had to do the visa run, and the job was in another part of the country.

Unfortunately, my next boss said she would put me on the group insurance. I went to a doctor last month, and found out then, that I am not insured.

I've made calls to Geoje island and Busan NHIC offices and have received different stories. I'm still not sure what I have to pay.

The Geoje insurance man has told me that I have to make back payments from Nov 03 to April 04.

The Busan guy said that as I am a foreigner and left Korea in April 04 and didn't get insurance set up again after finishing my first contract, I was uninsured and I don't have to make back payments for that period.
But, if I want to get insurance now (Feb 05) I have to make back payments from May 04 up to the present day.

I'm leaving Korea next month, but wish to return in about six months time, and I'm still unsure what it will cost me to rejoin the health scheme.

I've thought about it, and in view of the limited cover the insurance actually covers, am seriously considering to buy annual travel insurance from the UK to cover travel, health and working situations.

Maybe that would mean, job done, no worrying about a Hagwon boss getting things organised, worrying about what I have to pay, could pay and what hasn't been paid.

Even after 2 and a half years in korea I get confused about Insurance, contracts and tax deductions

I understand how foreigners get confused about things in korea.

In the UK, when working I had a National Insurance number and tax code. Paid my dues and it was a case of job done.

[Hollywoodaction]

MY wife and I have two businesses registered in her name, so she has to pay the whole amount because she's self-employed (taxes, basically, because she could have been added to my policy). She pays about 58000 won per month. I think I pay about 24000 per month for mine, and our son is also covered by it. So, if your employer really pays half, my guess is that you shouldn't pay more than 30000 won if you're the sole beneficiary.

[Van22]

There have been several postings here suggesting that traveler's insurance is a better bet than Korean National Health Insurance. I have some experience with travel insurance, I just wanted to mention some of the limitations it has with regards to living overseas as opposed to just vacationing.

Travel insurance is good for emergencies, and won't leave you screwed if something really serious happens to you. However, if you have a more routine medical problem and need any kind of treatment, you are generally required to go back to your home country for it. This means that if you are working overseas and have only travel health insurance, and no health insurance for the country you're in, you may have to leave your job and return home over a fairly routine health problem.

I am Canadian and bought Bon Voyage travel insurance through Travel Cuts for a year-long trip abroad. While I was traveling, I had a medical problem and needed some very minor surgery. My travel insurance covered my trips to the doctor to figure out what the problem was. It was determined that I needed treatment, but that it was not a life or death emergency. When I contacted my health insurance, they ordered me to take the first flight home to Canada. Because I was fit to travel home, they would not cover any treatment abroad. Not only that, but if I chose to stay abroad and pay for the treatment myself, they would consider my insurance policy void and would not cover any further medical problems I might have while traveling. I was required to use my existing plane ticket to go home. The only expense the travel insurance was willing to cover was the change fee to change the date of my plane ticket.

If I had been on a short vacation, this would have been no problem. I would have cut my vacation short and gone home. But I was 4 months into a year-long trip, and was just starting a teaching job. I wasn't ready to go home to stay. Because I wanted to come back to my job, it turned out (for airfare reasons) to be cheaper for me to buy a return ticket home from the city where the problem occured than to use my existing plane ticket to get home. I had to pay the full expense of this ticket and had no choice in the matter, because otherwise my insurance company would have cut me off.

When I contacted my insurance company to find out if I could get a refund for the unused 8 months of my insurance policy, I was told that was not possible because I had "used" my policy. I pointed out that they had paid for nothing so far, but they assured me that my 3 or so doctor's visits abroad were covered, and that because I had contacted them about the problem I no longer had the option of not claiming for those visits. The fact that I had "used" my policy also meant that the policy was was now void and would cover no further medical expenses. This meant that when I left Canada a month later to finish my trip, I had to buy a further 7 months of travel insurance.

THE CALCULATIONS: The insurance company reimbursed me about $70 USD to cover doctor's bills incurred abroad. I paid about $1200 USD for my plane ticket home, lost out on 8 months of insurance for which I had already paid, and had to pay a further $200 USD or so to re-insure myself for those 8 months. The medical procedure I had done put me out of comission for about 3 days, but I lost out on a month's work and spent a lot of money. As I was working as a volunteer, my school took me back despite a month's absence, but this probably wouldn't generally be the case at paying jobs.

I am planning to go to Korea in a couple of months and intend to get National Health Insurance. It may not cover the full cost of many medical procedures, but it probably isn't voided as soon as you use it either. Traveler's insurance is fine if all you want is emergency coverage and you're prepared to return home at any time if need be. I just wanted to put the word out that it may not be the best option if you want to be able to receive treatment abroad for anything that is not a life or death emergency.

A final word of caution to those relying solely on travel health insurance: consider, before you call them, that any claim you make might void your policy. Check the fine print before asking them to pay for a small medical bill. It may be in your best interest to pay it yourself, and save your insurance for a more expensive emergency. If the amount you're asking for is less than the amount you'll have to pay to re-insure yourself, it might not be worth it. This is something that certainly never occurred to me before I picked up the phone.

P.S. Buying your insurance a couple months at a time might help get around this situation to some extent. If you've only paid a bit in advance, it's not the end of the world if they void your policy because you haven't lost much in advance-payment if you have to re-insure yourself.

P.P.S. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.