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What's Covered With the Korean Health Insurance?
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grandpa



Joined: 19 Oct 2009

PostPosted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 1:00 am    Post subject: What's Covered With the Korean Health Insurance? Reply with quote

I got health insurance from my public school. Is there someone I can speak to in English to find out exactly what my Korean health insurance covers?
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ppcg4



Joined: 16 Oct 2008

PostPosted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had it before. It's awesome. Meds and doctor's visits are covered, as well as hospital visits.

The doc in Itaewon costs 30,000 (consultation only), and the meds bring the price up to about 80,000 total). With insurance, it was only 16,000.

Broke my hand in January, bill was 700,000, only cost me under 300,000.
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VanIslander



Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!

PostPosted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

a fellow waygook teacher friend of mine broke his leg and was inbetween contracts so had no medical insurance: the hospital said the required surgery would cost one million won WITH medical insurance but five million won WITHOUT insurance (big difference)
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youtuber



Joined: 13 Sep 2009

PostPosted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 1:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The coverage is NOT awesome, contrary to what most people think.

As far as finding out the specifics of what is covered, good luck. No one has been able to tell me this information.

Make sure you have Emergency Travel Medical Insurance for the year in addition to the national insurance in Korea. Purhase the emergency insurance at any travel agency in your home country. Should cost about $500 for the year.

People think the National Insurance here is awesome only because they haven't had any major surgeries in Korea, which can be terribly expensive even though you have NHI.

The quality of care in Korea, however, is excellent.
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bassexpander



Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

PostPosted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I heard it directly from an insurance agent:

Best deal a foreigner on an E-2 can get is travel insurance for a year from back home.

Unfortunately, those with resident visas (F-2's, for example) do not qualify.
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bassexpander



Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

PostPosted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ppcg4 wrote:
I had it before. It's awesome. Meds and doctor's visits are covered, as well as hospital visits.

The doc in Itaewon costs 30,000 (consultation only), and the meds bring the price up to about 80,000 total). With insurance, it was only 16,000.



And if you'd done this through a Korean clinic that didn't say "International" in the title, you would have paid around 3,000 won. Problem with Korean clinics is that they give you 2 to 3 days of meds, wanting you to come back so they can make more money.
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winterwawa



Joined: 06 May 2007

PostPosted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 10:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have to disagree with those of you who say the NIC is not awesome. While there is a lot it doesn't cover, it covers a lot more than most private companies in the USA.

I was in Chungnam University hospital in Daejeon with pneumonia about 2 years ago. I was in hospital for 10 days and the total, before NIC was only 1,490,000 won. That included x-rays, blood tests, and a bunch of other test that I can't even pronounce. The same stay in a US hospital would have cost almost 1000 bucks a day. My total out of pocket after NIC was only 490,000.

What sucks in Korea is the private insurance companies, which I also have. They only paid 90,000.

I am between jobs now, and thought I had the flu about two weeks ago. Thankfully an ex-student of mine is a doctor, so the visit was free. He gave me a 7 day prescription of antibiotics. (Thankfully it wasn't the H1N1 flu). I thought the meds would be expensive, but even without NIC, the cost for the meds was only 6000 won. In America, it would have been at least 100 bucks.

Personally, I think there are a lot of things to complain about in Korea--but heath care and heath care costs aren't on my list of complaints.
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youtuber



Joined: 13 Sep 2009

PostPosted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

^ Making a comparison to a country that is widely known to have the most expensive health care in the world is misleading.

By the way Winterwawa, what kind of private insurance do you have?
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bassexpander



Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 3:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, winterwawa, I am curious about your company, too.

I have Samsung insurance, and they covered my 50,000 won x-ray and 5,000 won per day basic fee, plus meds for a recent medical situation I had (basically, almost all out-of-pocket expenses).
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ttompatz



Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea

PostPosted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 3:18 am    Post subject: Re: What's Covered With the Korean Health Insurance? Reply with quote

grandpa wrote:
I got health insurance from my public school. Is there someone I can speak to in English to find out exactly what my Korean health insurance covers?


The specifics are on their English website.
http://www.nhic.or.kr/ - look for the tab to the English website. You may have to peck around a bit to find it but it is there.

Basic medical is covered (Dr office visits are 3000 won). Basic dental is covered too (3500 for a filling).

for anything major they cover about 50% of the bill.
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simIAN



Joined: 02 Sep 2007

PostPosted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 3:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was rear ended on my motorcycle by a tractor trailer on September 11th. I am still in the hospital and all my bills are around 9 million won.

That is probably cheaper than the USA though.
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Trinidad



Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 4:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

simIAN wrote:
I was rear ended on my motorcycle by a tractor trailer on September 11th. I am still in the hospital and all my bills are around 9 million won.

That is probably cheaper than the USA though.


Brutal dude. I was in the bone ward in Canada for six weeks for a
smashed up femur from a bicycle accident. Most of the other people
there were for motorcycle stuff.

I survived by friends sneaking me in beer which I would chase with
the pain medications they were giving me. I remember when I was on
morphine. There was no pain, but not much of anything else either.

In Korea I have NHI plus AIG extended coverage and ING cancer
insurance. The ING is obvious. The AIG gets me a private room
in a nice hospital with nurses guaranteed to be under 25.

Hopefully I will need neither.
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winterwawa



Joined: 06 May 2007

PostPosted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 5:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

youtuber wrote:
^ Making a comparison to a country that is widely known to have the most expensive health care in the world is misleading.

By the way Winterwawa, what kind of private insurance do you have?


Yes, I know the comparison isn't exactly fair, but the USA is the only other point of reference I have. I have Kyobo for my private insurance. It is a Life/Heath policy with retirement benefits. I bought it for the retirement benefits more than anything else.

My main point is that the Korean health care system and the NIC is not all that bad. IMHO
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youtuber



Joined: 13 Sep 2009

PostPosted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 4:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Winterwawa, may I ask what kind of visa you have? E2?

SimIAN, how are you passing the time? I was in the hospital for one month in Korea and actually made some really good friends there. They put a bunch of us younger patients in the same room. We actually went out for supper from the hospital a couple of times and we were all on crutches
Laughing People must have thought WTF???

We played a lot of PS2 world cup soccer when we were in there as well. And lots of chess.

I actually think a room with people in it is more preferable to a private room. Way more fun. I guess it depends on the other patients.
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allovertheplace



Joined: 02 Aug 2009

PostPosted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 4:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

winterwawa wrote:
I have to disagree with those of you who say the NIC is not awesome. While there is a lot it doesn't cover, it covers a lot more than most private companies in the USA.

I was in Chungnam University hospital in Daejeon with pneumonia about 2 years ago. I was in hospital for 10 days and the total, before NIC was only 1,490,000 won. That included x-rays, blood tests, and a bunch of other test that I can't even pronounce. The same stay in a US hospital would have cost almost 1000 bucks a day. My total out of pocket after NIC was only 490,000.

What sucks in Korea is the private insurance companies, which I also have. They only paid 90,000.

I am between jobs now, and thought I had the flu about two weeks ago. Thankfully an ex-student of mine is a doctor, so the visit was free. He gave me a 7 day prescription of antibiotics. (Thankfully it wasn't the H1N1 flu). I thought the meds would be expensive, but even without NIC, the cost for the meds was only 6000 won. In America, it would have been at least 100 bucks.

Personally, I think there are a lot of things to complain about in Korea--but heath care and heath care costs aren't on my list of complaints.


I believe you but for some reason prices vary. A coworker had pneumonia and was in the hospital for 5 days-7 million without insurance, 3 million with. The insurance is pretty bad in my opinion. Figure you only pay 10k to go to a doctor without it, why even have it? Best thing about korean doctors, dentist, I had a wisdom tooth taken out for 30k won. Amazing deal and that wasnt covered by insurance.
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