Korean Job Discussion Forums

[banjois]

So far everything with my school is great, and I trust them, but I thought I'd just double-check this one, in case.

So today we were asked (or told, I'm not sure, I had to teach through the staff meeting...) if we wanted to switch to a private health plan. The plan itself looks alright, so I've got no big problem with that, per se. I was under the impression that healthcare and pension were linked, but I was told that this was recently changed to allow a private health plan without any effect to pension payments. Does anybody know the facts on this?

[ttompatz]

[banjois]

Hmmm. I feel good about my job, and I'm not too worried about them screwing me over. I don't think they're trying to duck the pension, although time will tell. I guess my question is why do these private health plans exist if they run contrary to the National Health Plan? As long as somebody covers the bulk of my costs (which will be few...I've been to a doctor maybe twice in the past five years) I don't care either way.

Also, all of the other teachers have been here for years, and nobody seems terribly concerned about it. I don't know WHAT to think...

[broken76]

Private health care plans exist because the NHIC system is a subsidized plan for medical costs where the patient still has to pay for some coverage. Basically NHIC seems great until a big medical expense comes up, paying 30% of a $100,000 medical bill is still a huge chunk of money. Private insurance will pretty much pay the total bill for what you're covered for.
In many cases Koreans will actually have both private and public insurance in order to have the best overall coverage.
Basically NHIC is good for small stuff while private insurance is better for more expensive procedures.

[hari seldon]

According to my last employer, registering an employee with the national health plan automatically triggers a notification to the national pension plan unless the employer convinces them that you're a contractor instead of an employee.

To avoid the hassle and cost, unscrupulous employers don't define their teachers as 'employees' in their employment contracts and try to steer them into signing up for private health insurance.

Most NETs can profit from employer contributions to the national pension plan which could easily add up to an extra $1000 over the course of a contract. There are a few countries from the list that don't benefit. Where are you from?

[ttompatz]

[banjois]

So, when I went to talk to my boss this morning, she said I could choose National Health or the private plan. I went with National Health, as did 1 of my 8 foreign co-workers. The other people all apparently went "Ooooh, we can save $60 a month? Cooool!" The way I see it, I can't really fault the school for wrong-doing. Kinda shady, sure, but I didn't have any pressure on me not to take option A. Can't blame them for trying to save a buck on the people that can't be bothered to do their research, even if it is a titch illegal. The ways of the world, says I. I was a little worried there for a bit, but everything seems simpatico once more.

[banjois]

And, for the time being anyways, I'm not worried about pension. I'll check on it in a few months, but my overall feeling is that I won't get dicked around.

[Big Mac]

[air76]

[banjois]

[quote="air76"]

[hari seldon]

[monkey.lover]

Just curious to know if anyone has ever paid quarterly health insurance fees on top of their monthly health insurance payments.

This month around 96,000 was taken out of my paycheck for "health insurance quarterly fees".