Korean Job Discussion Forums

[EZE]

On May 30th, I went to the hospital because of the ongoing abdominal pains I had been having since January. I was sent for a sonogram which showed I had appendicitis. I had surgery two hours later. I was discharged from the hospital last Sunday, June 2 and went back yesterday to get the stitches removed. The cashier told me my health insurance expired at the end of May.

The thing is, my contract is through August 19th and I would rather my insurance expire at the end of my contract, not during it.

I plan on going to the NHIC office for the umpteenth time tomorrow morning to try to get this sorted out again. Has anyone had this happen to them and, if so, how long does it usually take them to get the insurance reinstated?

[ttompatz]

[EZE]

That's my guess too. It took me most of my contract just to get health insurance. I was so excited when I finally got it, and now it's gone already...so disappointing.

[tom65]

I am willing to offer a nice fee, to anyone who could find me a good school in Seoul or somewhere close to Seoul.

I would do it myself, but I will be in a hospital for some time, and doctors won't allow me to be on a computer for hours or to use a phone too much.

Please, no recruitment agencies, I had very bad experiences with them, so I don't wanna even hear about ANY recruitment agency. That is why I am offering this to you, my colleagues.

All of you who might be interested, contact me on my email for details : <edit>

[pmwhittier]

[EZE]

Great. Thanks for the information!

[EZE]

When I got to work today, I asked my boss if she had found out anything regarding my health insurance. She showed me a copy of my NHIC card in her office (I have an identical copy at home), and she said she noticed that the date on it says "2013.01.14 - 2013.04.30." I told her, "Yeah, I had noticed that the day the insurance was issued and when I went to the NHIC branch at Seohyun station the very next day in person, they assured me that my insurance wouldn't expire during my contract as long as payments were made."

She gave them a call and after speaking with the NHIC lady in Korean, my boss handed me her cell phone and I began speaking with the NHIC agent.

The NHIC agent gave me a mild scolding for being irresponsible and late on my insurance payment. I told her, "At 99.99% of schools, the school takes it out of the teacher's pay and pays half, just like what it says in my contract." She told me, "But you're self-employed." I said, "No, I don't own the school. I just work here as an employee." She said, "But you registered on your own as self-employed."

At that point, I was feeling very angry, so I went to my classroom for a little bit of privacy. I have ten more days before my 11th month begins on June 20th and I didn't want to say something that would cause my boss to fire me today.

I told the NHIC agent, "I didn't register as self-employed. My boss registered me, but my contract says exactly 25 times that I'm an employee. I am an employee. The registration in its current form is a fraud." I added, "Even in my contract, it says my employer will pay half of the health insurance cost and half of the pension cost which I don't even have. And I accepted a 2.2 million won salary instead of a 2.3 million won salary just to have health insurance and pension in my contract." The NHIC agent said it doesn't matter. If I want health insurance, I'll have to pay it all and will have one week to get it all taken care of if I want to be reimbursed for my medical costs.

I have a follow-up appointment at the doctor tomorrow morning, so I'm going to have to go to the doctor without health insurance. Then I'm going to go ahead and go to the NHIC branch at Jamsil station and pay the fraudulent amount so I can return to the doctor and get an insurance reimbursement.

I'm just going to play along until June 20th so I'll be in my 11th month then with more job security and can crank up a summer offensive at the Labor Board.

[Wildbore]

Go to the NHIC in person. The phone is pointless.

[EZE]

I just went to the NHIC branch at Gangnam station exit 1. I'm just unable to get health insurance. I handed them my ARC card and showed them my work contract which shows I'm employed through August 19th, and that my employer and I are each supposed to pay half of the cost. I'm denied health insurance.

[Wildbore]

[EZE]

You're probably right. A lot of my problem was the way I was telling them I'm an employee, but they had my boss on the phone saying I'm self-employed. I showed them my contract which says I'm an employee 25 times, with the employer paying for half of the health insurance. They asked me to sign a paper in Korean, so I signed it with my name and underneath my name I wrote "employee, not self-employed." The NHIC agent ripped it in two and I was pretty much dismissed from the health insurance office.

Tonight, during my last class, my boss came into the classroom and asked what was wrong with my health insurance. After about 20 minutes of discussion in front of the students, she told me that she could enroll me as an employee instead of self-employed, but the tax office told her I would have to be taxed at a 10% rate if I'm enrolled as an employee. I told her I think the tax office told her wrong, that any tax rate that high would result in someone pocketing the greater part of it along the way.