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killian

china, taiwan, japan, korea...which as the best health coverage for foreign teachers?

Sadebugo · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 524

Certainly not Korea!! In '98, I went to the doctor and was misdiagnosed. I had chicken pox but had to go to another doctor to discover that!!

Sadebugo
http://travldawrld.blogspot.com/

teachaus · Joined: 04 Apr 2009 Posts: 54

In Korea the ESL teachers are covered by the same scheme that covers the rest of the population. I had 2 years there and was very happy with the treatment that I received. That is the one I am most familiar with.

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

killian · Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:44 pm Post subject:

i have done 3 of the 4.

taiwan was great. had a lump in my arm. they said it was benign but asked me if i wanted it out. i said yes as it hurt/impacted my life. two days later i had surgery (w/ the knock out gas and all). they took it out, no problems. cost me the equiv. of 10US$. clinics everywhere, no appt. needed.

korea was fine. had irregular heart beat. went to the hospital, saw cardiologist, had the heart sonogram thing. they diagnosed anxiety. gave me drugs i still have. not as cheap as taiwan. clinics everywhere, no appt. needed.

china? i went to the hospital once here. the electricity was out. cheap, and deservedly so. there are clinics on every seemingly every corner.

haven't done the japan thing yet.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

How do you define "best"? Good quality doctors in good supply and who are willing to listen to patients and allow second opinions, plus very cheap to free premiums?

That is an ideal, of course. What are you expecting?

In Japan, you have 2 options for national health care (either of which will be required as of 2010 in order to renew a visa, by the way, so don't think that you can get by anymore with just traveler's insurance).

1. corporate NHI. Company pays half of the premiums. Includes a pension plan.
2. citizens' NHI. You pay all of the premium. Very cheap the first year, but ten times higher the next because you have a record of employment. Does not include a pension, so you have to take that separately (and get back about 3 years' worth when you leave).

In both cases, you are covered for 70% of treatment and meds. Not everything is covered, of course, but it's very good.

killian · Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 5:25 am Post subject:

oh yeah, an EKG in china cost me 20 rmb, about 2.5 US$.

Molson · Joined: 01 May 2009 Posts: 137 Location: China

I think supplemental insurance would help you cover any costs. When I was in Korea I never had problems with the medical care. If you have extra insurance of the cash you can see the best doctors in that country.

Now that I am in China I have private insurance that covers everything 100%. The thing I don't like is I have to pay upfront unless I go to a hospital that has direct billing, and those hospitals are only in Shanghai, Beijing and Nanjing. I can also go back to my home country and I am also covered 100%, it is world wide coverage. As for Chinese doctors, I went once cause I caught a cold. I wasn't impressed.

I would think Japan should have the best doctors of the three, but that is just because they are a 1st world nation and so have less top talent going to rich countries to practice medicine.