Job Discussion Forums

[koreaprospects]

I'm going to take 6 weeks of health insurance cover with me to Taiwan to ensure I'm covered during my job search.

After this will I be covered through my employer and the National Health Service in Taiwan? Anyone got experience of using the services provided through employment based health insurance?

Is it adequate? or should a get an 12month policy before I leave my home country?

Please comment or correct me

[clark.w.griswald]

Private cover is probably not a bad idea to cover you in the interim prior to your work permit being processed.

I find that the National Health Insurance here is pretty good and covers most things. The only thing that it doesn't cover that you may want private insurance to cover is emergency evacuation insurance in case of a severe accident or illness for which you wanted treatment back home.

[sbettinson]

Definitely get travel insurance to cover your interim period between arriving in Taiwan and finding a job. I took 2 months out to cover me for the length of my initial tourist visa.

In Taiwan I haven't used the health system extensively other than some prescription meds for a bad case of flu etc. The packets of drus they give you are an interesting story. Long strips that reminded me of candy you can buy in Spanish coastal tourist resorts!

I went with my girlfriend to the hospital though as she had developed a rare type of glaucoma out of nowhere. I have to say that was one of the most terrifying experiences for her and I because the possibility of losing ones vision permanently without proper treatment in time was a big factor.

The biggest problem we found was the communication barrier. You can get a friend who speak Chinese to help but perhaps some minor areas of breakdown can cause misunderstanding. Try explaining 'pins and needles' in Chinese. It's interesting when under duress and it took a few different diagnoses to get it right. That kinda concerned us but then such things have happened before in our home country.

Aside from that most doctors in hospitals can speak English and while it might be limited to technical terms mostly it is all that is needed.

If you are to find yourself in a very serious condition that required hospitalisation and subsequent treatment then it is unlikely you are going to be fit to fly home anyway even with emergency evacuation. If you needed long term treatment then you would be looking to get yourself fixed up in the hospital here where all modern equipment and methods are available. Following that you would be advised to take the next commercial flight back to your home country as you would probably be unable to work as a teacher anyway.

One thing I have found to be excellent and disgracefully cheap compared to the UK where I am from is dental treatment. I had two large cavities filled with naturally colored filling in a first class dental treatment clinic. It cost me 100NT whereas the same treatment would cost me around 5,000NT in the UK!!

The insurance thing works on what I think is an 80/20 percent arrangement. Correct me please someone if I am wrong. Depending on what you need done you pay some of the costs but in the case of a doctors visit the cost is about 100NT and the same with dental. If you need surgery I am not sure. Maybe someone else can comment.

Hope this helps and safe journey.

Shaun