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budgie
Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 40
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 Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 1:55 am Post subject: Private Health Insurance in Japan? |
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| Anyone here able to recommend a foreigner friendly health insurance company in Japan? Can't go onto the national plan because it's tied to the retirement plan and I'd have to backpay. Working part time at several places so none of them offer cover. Has anyone here arranged their own plan with either a Japanese or overseas firm? |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 3:25 am Post subject: |
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What's wrong with it being "tied" to retirement? You will get about 3 years' worth back anyway if you leave before you retire. How long did you plan to be here?
Not all private schemes are all that good anyway. |
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ShioriEigoKyoushi
Joined: 21 Aug 2009
Posts: 364
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 7:56 am Post subject: |
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Text deleted
Last edited by ShioriEigoKyoushi on Fri Mar 19, 2010 2:04 am; edited 1 time in total |
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kinshachi
Joined: 06 Sep 2006
Posts: 50
Location: Sydney
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| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 8:37 am Post subject: |
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I don't think the problem is that it's tied to retirement, since, as you said, Glenski, you can get that back, but that if you have to sign up for the kokumin kenko hoken, you'll have to pay two years' backpayments.
I'm kind of in the same boat (ELS refugee, no?), cut adrift with no more company insurance. I'm not at all keen on paying about 500,000yen plus 20-25% of my salary for the privilege of working for peanuts, visa or no visa. So I too am looking for something cheap but serviceable for the time I have left here... |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 12:22 pm Post subject: |
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| kinshachi wrote: |
| I don't think the problem is that it's tied to retirement, since, as you said, Glenski, you can get that back, but that if you have to sign up for the kokumin kenko hoken, you'll have to pay two years' backpayments. |
I won't berate you for not being on any NHI plan. You and the OP seem to realize the situation you are in.
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| I'm kind of in the same boat (ELS refugee, no?), cut adrift with no more company insurance. |
What did you have with that company?
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| I'm not at all keen on paying about 500,000yen plus 20-25% of my salary for the privilege of working for peanuts |
Some say that by working PT on a self-sponsored visa, you could actually make far more than any FT worker, so it doesn't have to be peanuts.
What does this mean? |
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kinshachi
Joined: 06 Sep 2006
Posts: 50
Location: Sydney
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| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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Hi Glenski, sorry if I wasn't too clear.
We had traveller's insurance, provided free by the company. 100% coverage, but only by reimbursement. Nothing that NHI would accept enough to waive backpayments, though.
I suppose that stitching together PT work is a possibility, but honestly, after a relatively cushy 9-5 gig for the last few years, this whole bankruptcy experience, and looking at what's going in the job market these days, I'm not too optimistic about trying to stick it out here, especially if they're serious about linking visa renewals to having NHI. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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| kinshachi wrote: |
| especially if they're serious about linking visa renewals to having NHI. |
That's been nixed.
But, yes, the teaching market here is not in the best of shape. Only the strong and desperate will survive. |
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Pitarou
Joined: 16 Nov 2009
Posts: 1116
Location: Narita, Japan
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| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 5:29 am Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| kinshachi wrote: |
| especially if they're serious about linking visa renewals to having NHI. |
That's been nixed. |
I wouldn't say it's been entirely nixed. The official position remains unchanged: when considering your application for visa renewal, your enrolment in National Health Insurance (or equivalent) will be taken into consideration.
It's true that there is a leaked internal memo stating:
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| if a health insurance ID card is not presented, that alone cannot be sufficient reason for rejection or denial of an application |
Some interpret this as a policy U-turn; others do not. As one commenter put it, "Great, you got your visa renewed--here's your social insurance bill."
I don't know what the outcome will be, but it's easy to see the forces at work. Look at it from the perspective of the Japanese Government. Foreign English teachers:
1. are in plentiful supply.
2. don't vote.
3. are entirely at the mercy of the Immigration Department.
4. legally, don't have a leg to stand on. If they are not paying NHI, they are breaking the law.
What's not to like about forcing us to supplement NHI funds? |
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