Korean Job Discussion Forums

[greedy_bones]

I have the national healthcare here in Korea, and I love it. I pay 50 bucks a month, don't pay for doctor visits, and pay about 3 or 4,000 for meds. Without insurance, I'd be paying something like 10,000 a visit and 20,000 for meds. I have no wait times, get great care, and have almost no problems. The only issue I have is that you can't get prescriptions for chronic conditions refilled without seeing a doctor which is a little annoying.

Korea is ranked as number 58, though. From personal experience, I haven't seen any real problems with healthcare, but there are probably reasons it's ranked so low. I haven't seen any articles addressing this though.
Any thoughts on why this is?

[Ilsanman]

Maybe that's based more on its success ratio. Korean doctors tend to practice old style medicinal practices, believe in things that just aren't true, have a cultural bias, etc.

How about getting 3 days of medicine? That's a strike against them right there.

[VanIslander]

No post-lavatory handwashing?

[On the other hand]

[beckykorea]

I think most doctors here, especially in the big cities, practice medicine in a modern and scientific way. However, there are some real quacks out there. When I first came to Korea, I lived way out in a tiny town. There weren't many doctors to choose from. I often saw people walking around with tape on their throats, and I thought it was odd. Then, when I got sick, my employers took me to the doctor. I probably had strep throat or something, but his method of curing me was just to put tape on my throat. There were two pieces, one over each tonsil. At first I thought is was some kind of medicated tape, but no, it was just tape. I got retaped on each of my visits to him. Of course my illness dragged on for months, because how could some tape help me? Later when I had breathing problems for a while I got my whole chest taped, too. I have been in Korea for about six years now, and I have never encountered another quack like that. So maybe doctors like that bring Korea's health care down a few pegs.

[Big_Bird]

I had a baby in Korea and wasn't too impressed. There is an over-realiance on intervention. Korean women are expected to have episiotomies (where they cut open the vagina to more easily allow out the baby) as a routine measure! I absolutely refused. I had notified them previous to going into labour that I would only accept such a measure if truly warranted. Only a short time into the birth they tried to pressure me to have one, and I refused point blank. They are so poorly skilled they are frightened to deliver women without them! The doctor was really annoyed that I'd refused - she was fuming. I thought "you cheeky bitch, you probably just want to finish this faster and go home early" and with my next (rather defiant) push out came little_bird. I hadn't needed one at all. My sister was given an episiotomy in the west, only after 2 hours of a very difficult labour. It was a last resort. In Korea it is a first resort! It takes months to recover from and leaves you in pain and discomfort. Not something you should have if it's unneeded.

They also try to bully you into having a spinal-epidural. This has risks which they never explained to me, while they tried to brow beat me into having one.

Giving birth to my second child in the west was a completely different experience. I was consulted, rather than ordered! And all processes and their risks were carefully explained to me, as if I were indeed an intelligent being who was the central actor, and whose wishes and opinions were considered important or something. Ha!

I think the KOrean doctors are often poorly skilled. A friend of mine was pregnant at the same time. Her doctor told her she would need a c-section, because she was overweight. She wasn't that overweight. And plenty of obese women give birth naturally. In fact, a c-section is more problematic and dangerous for overweight women. Well, she pushed the doctor for an explanation, and eventually it turned out that he had never delivered a baby naturally. All his patients had c-sections! More money for the hospital and less headache for him!!! KOrea has one of the highest c-section rates in the world. Most of them are totally unnecessary.

And their nurses - they haven't got a bloody clue!

[sojourner1]

I found that they don't do any testing on all the times I went to the doctor. Not even vitals check nor any questions unless getting a physical exam, but it's not as thorough as what you would get in a western country. You can check your own blood pressure in some offices. I noticed out of the 8 times I went to doctors, I got the same shot in the rump each time which seems to be a standard one size and kind fits all people and conditions sort of treatment. I feared that it might do more harm than good to be taking those packets of pills since it's unknown what they are and I found it impossible to research to find information on them.

The health care system in Korea is designed to be simple, cheap, and efficient, not comprehensive. I went to the doctors much more in Korea since living here was so hard on my body and health where I was sick time after time due to living in such an unhealthy environment. I still have runny nose and fatigue on a daily basis due to pollution and allergies.


I think in Korea you might be out of luck on receiving adequate care for serious conditions unless you can afford to see specialized private doctors. I did hear about diabetics having a difficult time getting insulin. While its' health care is not comprehensive, the thing Korea has going for it is that the people usually keep their body weight under control which is the most important health insurance possible.

Korea does have all the technology that western countries have, but they just don't practice in the same thorough manner.

[Ilsanman]

I agree with Big Bird about pregnancy related things. The C section thing is ridiculous, as they expect it will occur at least half the time. Women who can't take the pain ask for a C section, even if there are no complications.

THere is a high level of quackery here, that's for sure. Any surprise in a country with massive test cheating and bribery problems?

[beckykorea]

Yes, about 5 months into my pregnancy, I was scared into going home until after the baby was born. They called my husband up and told him that I had to leave work immediately because the baby might have Down Syndrome. I left work extremely upset and went for a test that I found out could have waited for a few days. Of course the baby didn't have Down Syndrome, I was just flagged because my tests were different. It turns out almost all foreigners get flagged when tested because the results come back differently than most Koreans. They just handled the whole thing so poorly that we went home until after the baby was born.

[greedy_bones]

[Teufelswacht]

[greedy_bones]

So, I guess Korea provides decent insurance, but mediocre to terrible care. I hope I never require an operation while I'm still here.

[Octavius Hite]

Me and 3 girls got food poisoning one saturday night in a country town a few years back.

One of the girls was so sick that we had to go to the emergancey room.

There was no heat and all the windows were open as well as the door. There was no toliet paper or towels in the toliet. There was dirt everywhere, almost as dirty as the public schools.

Because it was sunday they had only one doctor in the whole hospital ( the hospital was 5 floors, not a small one) and while we were in the emergancy room a woman came in who was in labor. Her whole family was there and she was screaming and screaming and screaming.

But, because there was no doctor the nurses were freaking out and kept screaming at her (in Korean) to just close her legs.

CLOSE HER LEGS!!!! While they wait for the ambulance and the 40 minute drive to the nearest woman's hospital.

We couldn't believe it.

Savages i tell you!

[nobbyken]

Like most principals use pre-historic management methods in public elem. schools, it is much the same with public hospitals. I think the 'job for life' post and you are allowed to treat every one else as idiots.

Luckily we found a great private womens hospital on our door step here in Suwon. It's the type that outs the patient first, not the job title.
My wife wanted a natural birth, and they let her try for 12 hours, with the last 2 being with a painkiller drip in her spine. The babies head couldn't get into the birth canal, so she eventually had the section. 40 minutes and little "Grace" was with us.

On a side note, my wife was in a public hospital for appendix removal.
This was 3 weeks after the section and she was very painful stiff afterwards.
Hospital staff don't help patients get in and out of bed, nor will they raise/lower the bed. Family have to be on hand in the morning and evening. If family can't attend, then you have to hire a professional helper to help the patient, costs about 70k for 24 hours or 40k for 12. Nurses only administer medical attention. It was a real eye-opener for me.
I think the stuff in bold pushes them down the rankings a bit.

[On the other hand]