Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Geoff1111]

I am getting married to a Korean girl next year. Thus, I plan on spending quite a few years here in Korea before moving somewhere else. What would happen if I got very sick? Could I simply go home?

I am CANADIAN and we have a good health care system. But since I am not paying taxes I wonder if I will be covered.

Does anyone know?

[Jellypah]

Health coverage rules vary from province to province. In Ontario, you'd need to re-apply for OHIP after an extended time of being away from Canada. OHIP covergae would resume 3 months later, and in the interim you could get private health insurance.

I'm not sure how the premiums would work out if you were signing up with cancer, though.

Here's a link specific to Ontario:
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/program/ohip/ohipfaq_dt.html

Otherwise, - google your own province's health plan!

[bassexpander]

You can get full-coverage health/life Samsung insurance policies like mine, which will cover me for a certain amount after national insurance stops (national insurance does little or nothing for a cancer bill, I'm told). I'm paying 120,000 per month. Even at full coverage, my policy is better-off when supplemented with a cancer-specific policy from AIG, like my wife has. That costs her something like an additional 30,000 per month, but she's female.

If anyone is interested in a Samsung policy (highly-rated policy in Korea) let me know. I just got the information in English, and can put you in touch with someone. They had full-coverage policies from about 100,000 to 250,000 (the more expensive ones including a savings plan, which i'd probably avoid).

[Geoff1111]

[Geoff1111]

[bassexpander]

Where are you from, Canada?

That is pretty cheap.

First, tell me what cheaper policies you've seen. Feel free to include information about coverages.

[Bibbitybop]

1. I have a friend who got cancer in Korea and they didn't have the right chemo to treat it, which they realized 2 months after treating it the wrong chemo.

2. BassExpander, you also didn't mention you had to stop riding full sized motorcycles in order to get your full insurance benefits, something I'm not prepared to give up.

[xCustomx]

Wouldn't eating massive amounts of kimchi cure the cancer?

[teachergirltoo]

I have a friend this year that developed a serious disease and chose to return to Canada. She and her husband were from BC and had been away for many years. She downloaded the forms from the BC Medical website, filled them out, and faxed them back. Two months later they had complete coverage and returned there for treatment.

[crusher_of_heads]

[bassexpander]

I didn't ask if you were from Canada to be snide. It kind of looks that way by the way I asked it -- sorry. Canada's health care system is quite a bit different than here or where I'm from (USA). It often shocks Canadians when they hear health insurance prices, and I can understand why it would.

First, I'm no big expert on insurance. I checked around a little, and went with a company that my wife says has a very good reputation in Korea (Samsung) for insurance. As I mentioned, she also supplements her policy with additional cancer-specific insurance from AIG, which costs her like 30,000 more per month.

The reason is this... in Korea, the national health care only covers certain basics. After you get into treatments, long stays, or basically anything that costs you in the millions of won, it does about squat. You're stuck with the full brunt of the cost!

Canadians are lucky in that many of them (apparently depending on where in Canada they are from) can just return home and get care there. If you're American, however, you may not be able to get insurance at all due to cancer being a "pre-existing condition." I may be wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure you won't be able to get any insurance -- no one is required to sign someone up for what will amount to an automatic huge loss for the company that signs you.

Another twist as far as Korean companies are concerned -- your policy will have a maximum pay-out for certain diseases and all. If you rack-up 50 million in bills on one policy (each policy differs in this amount), they have the right to just drop you on your butt for good! They'll pay you that, but you're done -- no more insurance! This amount differs depending on how much per what disease, per admittance to a hospital, etc. The limits are all spelled-out very clearly. My wife explained that this is why many Koreans carry 2 or 3 different health policies.

My wife's mom is an example of why this is important. Her mom got breast cancer and received a pay-out for it a few years back. Then she was dropped, and no company in Korea will insure her again. If she gets cancer again, she pays for it out of her own pocket.

Of course, Korean policies have it all set up so the cancer limits on most full coverage plans are pretty low (we all know that most Koreans are probably going to die of some form of cancer, right?). You almost have to get an additional separate cancer policy to feel as if you're covered enough.

Bittybop, yes, I can confirm that I had to sell my 125cc scooter. The insurance agent said that Samsung checks to see if I have any registered motorbike in my name, or even just insurance with that bike. If they find that I have either of those, the pay-outs on my policy are automatically cut in half -- FOREVER, as he explained it! No chance of getting back into a policy which offers you better compensation once you've sold the bike later (sounded odd, but that's basically the way I understood it). Because of this, he advised that I sell the bike and cancel the insurance before he signed me up for a policy. I sold it, and two weeks later, he came back and signed me up.

If I have a 50cc, which they won't find in a search because it's not registered, then I'm OK. In fact, he suggested I get a 50cc. If I have a wreck on that, I'm still covered, he said. Other insurance companies may have different rules, but I bet they're all pretty close.

Weight was another thing. I weight over 100 kgs. The max weight for someone 6'2 1/2" tall is about 90 kilograms on their chart. My insurance agent cut me a break and wrote down 90. I was 90 kilograms a year ago, and wasn't at all fat, and I know that must be a Korean weight figure. I've got a Western body with a large upper torso/shoulder area. I weigh more. Doesn't matter, though, because the weights are pretty much set-out for Koreans.


For more information about my insurance, and a look at policy limits, see here: http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=115737&highlight=samsung

[hongdae2]

awesome info bass.

does the samsung insurance cover you if you move back to your home country(Canada) for the treatment and continue to pay for the insurance premiums while in your home country? or does it only cover you for treatment done in Korea?

[bassexpander]

[TheChickenLover]

The survival rate for cancer in Korea is less than 1%.

Regardless of medical coverage, good & poor quality medicine in Korea wont' save you. The quality of medical coverage in Korea is quite poor for cancer. They LOVE to slash & hack with surgery (good business), but for any real medication, they're more likely to give you fake drugs than real drugs.

I speak from real personal experience with cancer. I paid 20M for my in-laws medical care. She literally withered away to nothing but skin and bone. It was horrible. Suicide if you're terminal is a much better solution.


Chicken

[dr. love]

I imagine it was very stressful and frustrating to lose a family member, but that is not a fair statistic to give.

Cancer and the survival rate is dependant on the stage and type of cancer the patient has.

There are some very good oncologists in Korea. If you make a simple search of statistics on the web you will find the survial rates here to be on average with the western world.

The hospital where I work has an integrative cancer center that specializes in late stage/terminal cancer and I have seen some remarkable recoveries with there innovative treatments.

MD Anderson, the US's top Cancer Treatment Center, has visited us several times. They have been impressed with the level of care and treatment offered here.

The sad fact is that late stage, chemo resistant cancer is very difficult to treat, no matter where you are.