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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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 Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 2:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Simple question - did she have insurance? |
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dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 3:21 pm Post subject: |
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| If she is a teacher why didn't she have health insurance? |
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jonpurdy
Joined: 08 Jan 2009
Location: Ulsan
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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As a piece of advice for those who are from Canada, I purchased travellers health insurance for around $700CAD each year I was there. Covered all the bad stuff: surgeries, dental, and emergency flight fees back to Canada if needed. I never had to use it but I was happy to have it.
Of course, this advice is not useful for this specific situation but I thought I'd throw it out there. |
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bdot
Joined: 03 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:40 pm Post subject: |
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I'm sure she had insurance and of course they have plenty of money... accessing it from the bank at 3am was the real issue here due to the way their accounts were set up I believe (didn't have the cash immediately accessible due to account set ups etc).
Obviously some problems were cultural issues... the point of the story was to show some of us (particular people from countries where if you go to an emergency room... you expect virtually free healthcare and no requirement to pay before treatment) that your insurance doesn't necessarily mean free healthcare for serious illness and that you need quick access to over a grand at all times. Something I didn't know because everyone I heard harped on about how good the health system was here. I guess to an Australian/NZ/European... free, instant emergency healthcare is synonymous with a good healthcare system.
My comments about America are just based on stereotypes and impressions I've received (Michael Moore etc)... honestly I've got no clue how exactly the system works there. I'm not bagging Americans.
Cheers |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:47 pm Post subject: |
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Hold on, now. You're sure she has health insurance? Not to belabour the point, but are you really?
Also, do they not have credit cards? I mean, not everyone is able to bring mad amounts of cash to a hospital at 3am, to be sure, but how would "average folk" be able to do it?
Would they not accept a CC? |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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| bdot wrote: |
I'm sure she had insurance and of course they have plenty of money... accessing it from the bank at 3am was the real issue here due to the way their accounts were set up I believe (didn't have the cash immediately accessible due to account set ups etc).
Cheers |
So they weren't able to access their accounts...but their friend was?
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Anyway with no access to that sort of money they are left with 2 options... sign a hospital has no responsibility for you dying form and go home, or the chick getting her parents to come to the hospital to pay up or be guarantors (not clear about the parents thing). Problem is the parents live hours away and the mother would basically give the daughter hell/disown her if she knew she had a western boyfriend.
Thankfully my friend knew a friend who had access to the savings... |
And why wouldn't they have accounts set up the normal way (like everyone else in the country)? |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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| bdot wrote: |
My comments about America are just based on stereotypes and impressions I've received (Michael Moore etc)... honestly I've got no clue how exactly the system works there. I'm not bagging Americans.
Cheers |
Well, there's your first problem. |
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No_hite_pls
Joined: 05 Mar 2007
Location: Don't hate me because I'm right
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 5:47 pm Post subject: |
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| The American health care system is the pitts and I am an America. BTW My wife and I are far from being poor. I still prefer the health care system in Canada or Korea to the American "system" or more honestly lack of system. I have lived for years in US, Canada and Korea. One of things I miss about Canada was their health care system. |
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goreality
Joined: 09 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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| three adults are standing around and not a single one has a credit card or a bank card with 1 million won. The free healthcare system in the country I used to live in is a tax on the healthy. |
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bdot
Joined: 03 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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So I'm told these 2 adults had their coin in fixed-savings... whether its true or not its none of my business to go asking why someone didn't have access to $1000 bucks.
Anyway that's beside the point why I was shocked and horrified. The point is she was refused emergency treatment without supplying money. Money shouldn't be a requirement to get emergency healthcare... insurance or no insurance... at least in my opinion.
The latest is thankfully the girl got an operation and her insurance will apparently cover further medical bills however a sizeable portion of the deposit will never come back.
Call me naive but I always assumed the point of private national insurance was to ensure this sort of thing doesn't happen... anyway I should be thankful for the Australian system I guess. |
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bdot
Joined: 03 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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This is some info from a health care website for English speakers. It mentions this whole cash deposit business.
http://www.korea4expats.com/article-health-care-options-korea.html
3. In an emergency, you should take some cash with you (at least W500,000-W1,000,000) because some hospitals accept certain credit cards only. There are ATM machines located throughout most hospitals some of which allow access to you home account.
4. A medical insurance card is not recognized as a form or pre-payment. In fact, you will have to pay your medical bill in full in cash before you can be discharged. If you have global coverage, you can then submit the receipt to them for reimbursement. |
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Who's Your Daddy?
Joined: 30 May 2010
Location: Victoria, Canada.
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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Huh, visa card.
How much tax do you pay? I pay hardly anything. There's no free lunch. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:36 pm Post subject: |
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You seem very naive.
The story though seems kind of hinky to me... But that might be because we're hearing it sort of second hand. |
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NYC_Gal 2.0
Joined: 10 Dec 2010
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:41 pm Post subject: |
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| bdot wrote: |
This is some info from a health care website for English speakers. It mentions this whole cash deposit business.
http://www.korea4expats.com/article-health-care-options-korea.html
3. In an emergency, you should take some cash with you (at least W500,000-W1,000,000) because some hospitals accept certain credit cards only. There are ATM machines located throughout most hospitals some of which allow access to you home account.
4. A medical insurance card is not recognized as a form or pre-payment. In fact, you will have to pay your medical bill in full in cash before you can be discharged. If you have global coverage, you can then submit the receipt to them for reimbursement. |
The key word here is discharged. You just can't leave without paying. Neither I, nor anyone that I know who has had surgery here (and I know quite a few, as many of my friends are older, married, and settled down here) has had to pay a deposit before receiving treatment. Sure, we all had to sign forms saying that we would pay, but we got the treatment first, and arranged for payment after we were treated. |
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Moondoggy
Joined: 07 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:57 pm Post subject: Re: Warning about Korean healthcare (horror story) |
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| radcon wrote: |
| madoka wrote: |
| radcon wrote: |
| bdot wrote: |
Ok, I'm an Australian so I'm assuming that these things happen in America,
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Wrong. |
Radcon, usually people as ignorant as you have enough sense not to display their ignorance for all the world to see over and over again. |
So you are saying it is legal for emergency rooms in the US to turn away serious injuries without at least stabalizing the patient before transfer to a public hospital? |
what they do in the states is to keep you in the waiting room forever if you don't have proper health insurance or guidance who would cover the cost (which usually runs over $10k per surgery). moreover, many inner city hospitals closed their er because of some obvious reasons. |
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