Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sligo]

To cut a long story short:

Been here over 3 years, Paid health insurance for all the time, went to hospital last night with chest pains, they charged me W250,000. What exactly does health insurance do apart from deplete my bank account? Oh i remember the good old days of a free at the point of need NHS.

[dharmasister]

$213.65 for a trip to the emergency room? Is that for the entire visit or are more charges coming? If that's it I think that is great. My last trip to the ER with my son for 6 stitches cost me over $2,900. The room alone cost $800 and then there was the Dr's charges, the cost of gauze and sutures and an x-ray tech bill and then a bill from the radiologist who read the x-ray, and it just went on and on and on!!!!

[sligo]

[AsiaESLbound]

I too have health insurance and it cost me like 60,000 for ECG and ultrasound at a small cardiologist clinic. This insurance is good for prescriptions, but not for testing, bad diseases, and emergencies. If you really need help on something, it's going to cost you.

[Ramen]

NHS is only good for common cold and prescription.

[bliss]

Think about it this way:

If you were paying 1.3-3% income tax in the UK, do you think the NHS would exist?

[captain kirk]

2,900 smackers? What did your son do, fall off his bike? That's what I don't get about America, no health care. If you were poor your son's six stiches could wipe you out. In Canada here there's health care. I heard some artist on the radio saying that only in Canada could he live poor and do his art. Because if he ever gets sick it's no 'the sky is falling' financially.

I'm sorry to hear about your chest pains, OP, that's worrying. And I hope it works out ok. My experience has been if there are any fancy tests, like an EKG, then it's not on the medicare in Korea. On a more positive note the local 'health town' was golden in Goseung. Showed them my health coverage card and x-ray five bucks, vaccination five bucks. Very local and very down home friendly with a sense of it being a huge safety net used to dealing with hoopbacked, paddy-stooping retired farmers salt of the earth.

[Fox]

[Ramen]

Many K-people go bankrupt and die unable to afford the hospital bills even with NHS. Most K-teachers have supplimentary private health insurance to cover medical bills not covered by NHS.

[adamwatch]

I guess if you are British then paying for health care at all seems an insult.
However we also have to pay for a Korean pension and we can't get that money back, unlike Americans and Canadians. Is that any better?

[dharmasister]