Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ceramic]

Just wondering how long it'll take for national health insurance to kick in after arriving in Korea, and is it a good idea to buy travel health insurance for a few weeks from the US to cover me until the korean insurance starts?

Also, does anyone have any opinions on getting other supplementary insurance, like for emergency repatriation to your home country in case of needing to go home for medical treatment or in case you die while abroad? I know, morbid... I'm just thinking of worst-case scenarios, and if it would be a good idea to get some extra insurance to cover them...
If anyone has done this, do you have any tips for where to look for this kind of insurance?

[Big Mac]

It takes about a month before you can be enrolled in the Korean Medical Plan. I was told you can't enrol until after you get your Alien Registration Card...which you have to apply for at immigration here in Korea. So, it would be wise for you to get medical insurance from the U-S to cover you for your first little while here.

Make sure you watch your employer closely on this one. In my experience (and overall I have a pretty good boss), they'll try to avoid enrolling you in the medical plan, even if it's in your contract. Apparently it's because when you enrol in the plan it also enrols you in the National Pension Plan. This is something a lot of hogwan owners want to avoid, since it costs them a lot of money. But it's law and they have no choice. It's good for you, since you get both your own contributions (4.5 per cent of your monthly salary) and your employer's contributions back at the end of your stay.

It took me several months (and a lot of confrontations in the meantime) to get my medical insurance because of this. I was intensely annoyed that I wasn't covered during that time. Insist that you get this process underway as soon as you get here!

[lbellamy]

You can get an accident insurance policy that covers repatriation. Be careful if your boss wants to cover you with accident insurance because I hear it only covers accidents not normal doctors visits and presecription medicines like the National Health Insurance does.

Try searches on AGIF(?) or Kyobo Life Insurance.

Also there are the big medical insurance policies from companies like BUPA which cover you worldwide - but they're really expensive and have qualifying periods.

[ceramic]

So is it your point that I should get accident insurance that covers repatriation, or life insurance or something, through a Korean provider once I get there? I was thinking it should be something I purchase from home from an international or US company before I leave...
If it makes more sense to get supplementary accident insurance once I'm in Korea, does anyone have more suggestions for how/where to get this?

[lbellamy]

Sorry, I haven't looked into the different products and I'm not American. So I can't give you solid advice. I was just flagging that as a foreigner you can get life or accident insurance here from a local company.

But here's the company I was thinking of that might be worth investigating because they're American and their subsidiary here has branch offices which could make claiming anything easier, should you need to.
<url>http://www.aiggeneral.co.kr/english/company/companyintroduction.jsp</url>

"offers a full range of non-life insurance products: personal accidents, overseas travel accident, automobile, property, marine, and commercial/financial liability coverages. Individual and corporate policies are available to both Korean and non-Korean customers."

At my first hakwan they insured me with an accident policy, not the national health insurance. I met some other teachers who had non NHIC policies too. Their director claimed the national scheme was ony for Koreans. This isn't true of course but perhaps it had been in the past. Not being covered for normal visits to the doctor or medicine is a nuisance. Especially if you're coming over for the first time and in winter: many teachers get every bug going until they build up some immunity to the local strains here. (I'm presuming this is your first trip here so I'm going into details here!)

I think if you show up to a doctor or hospital here with a foreign policy or a non NHIC card, they'll just reject it and bill you the full amount. And if you can subsequently claim on your other policy, it takes paperwork and time and sometimes isn't worth the hassle.

It takes about 10 days from applying for NHIC to get coverage. They require your alien card, which takes about 10 days wait from the day you apply (if your local immigration office is a busy one). I suspect that the health insurance gets back dated to your alien card date. Next: I don't know that most travel insurance covers you for normal doctor visits. Just the big stuff like accidents or in-patient. If that's so then maybe you don't need to bother.

Accident insurance: They have compulsory 3rd party insurance for vehicles over here so if you're hit by a car you have access to compensation, even as a pedestrian and even if you are the driver at fault (see US Embassy web site for an explanation on that).

Life insurance: I happened to work at a uni that gave all its staff a policy with Kyobo. The whole thing was in Korean so I can't give you much info but we were told it covered repatriation in a medical emergency or death. I have to admit, I don't have any coverage now and even let my private insurance back home lapse. Perhaps I should look into this too.....