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Geekgurl
Joined: 03 Mar 2010
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 Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 1:54 pm Post subject: Korean Healthcare ~ Need Secondary Insurance? |
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My boyfriend and I are leaving for Korea in July and I have been doing a lot of research. I spoke to a couple that said the healthcare system is good in Korea, however to pick up private health insurance as well. Do the readers of these boards have private insurance? I guess you can say "well how much would you use it?" We hardly use our insurance now, but I don't want to be caught off gaurd from an emergency. (I also spoke to another couple that said they kept emergency medical insurance in the US just in case they need to be flown back to the states)
(I have been reading these boards the last couple weeks and have learned a lot from everyone. I am really happy that this exists.) |
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ChilgokBlackHole
Joined: 21 Nov 2009
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| Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 6:01 pm Post subject: |
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| I still carry my Blue Cross from back home. Can't drop it. I'm American. Once you drop an insurance carrier, it's impractical to get new coverage. |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 7:26 pm Post subject: |
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| I'd pick up secondary insurance. Korean National Insurance is great for minor problems. If you need surgery or you need some major treatment then the national insurance plan won't be of much help. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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| pkang0202 wrote: |
| I'd pick up secondary insurance. Korean National Insurance is great for minor problems. If you need surgery or you need some major treatment then the national insurance plan won't be of much help. |
Even a surgical procedure, unless you need a heart transplant or something, is very inexpensive compared to the states.
ACL surgical repair with attendant 1 week hospital stay, physio costs, etc. only cost my co-worker 2 million out of pocket - all up.
A basic doctor visit will cost 3000 won.
When our daughter was born it cost us about 500k for prenatal care anbd another 550kk won for the delivery and hospital stay in a 1st rate "op-gyne" woman's hospital. The big, general hospital at Bundang-Seohyun would have cost even less. |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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| ttompatz wrote: |
| pkang0202 wrote: |
| I'd pick up secondary insurance. Korean National Insurance is great for minor problems. If you need surgery or you need some major treatment then the national insurance plan won't be of much help. |
Even a surgical procedure, unless you need a heart transplant or something, is very inexpensive compared to the states.
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Your are right. Sure, health care is cheaper here than in the States, but that doesn't mean its ok to go without secondary health insurance in Korea. Most people do fine without it. I'm sure we can all think of a few people who would've benefitted from having secondary insurance (like that guy who was severely burned in a fire while he was asleep). |
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jonpurdy
Joined: 08 Jan 2009
Location: Ulsan
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| Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 8:31 pm Post subject: |
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| I was curious about this myself. My first year here I took out an overseas travel insurance plan that cost about $700 CAD. I heard that my insurance was very good and didn't opt for it this year. Is there a link somewhere that details exactly what is covered over here? (I'm a PS teacher so covered by the national health care plan). Would I benefit greatly from that overseas coverage? |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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| jonpurdy wrote: |
| I was curious about this myself. My first year here I took out an overseas travel insurance plan that cost about $700 CAD. I heard that my insurance was very good and didn't opt for it this year. Is there a link somewhere that details exactly what is covered over here? (I'm a PS teacher so covered by the national health care plan). Would I benefit greatly from that overseas coverage? |
http://www.nhic.or.kr/
look for the link to the English pages. |
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jomiro
Joined: 10 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 11:28 pm Post subject: |
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anybody have any recommendations in regards to a second health insurance.
i also opted with that and asked at the insurance companies around here. ing e.g.
but its $400 per month. and thats way too steep. |
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air76
Joined: 13 Nov 2007
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| Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 11:40 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't think that secondary health insurance is necessary....even a fairly major surgery would only put you out of pocket $2,000-$3,000. Is it really worth $500 to possibly avoid paying $2000?? Of course if something super crazy bizarre happens and you need a $50,000 surgery then that would suck, but even most fairly major surgeries cost less than $5,000, and then your national insurance covers about half of that. |
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Lolimahro
Joined: 19 May 2009
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| Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 4:54 am Post subject: |
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ttompatz, how do your basic doctor visits cost 3,000 won? Every time I got it's about 16,500. I do not use an international clinic. I've heard a lot of people quote such a number so I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong.
Pharmaceuticals are pretty cheap. Under NHIC, I've never paid more than 5,000 won for antibiotics for my son. |
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BoholDiver
Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 5:46 am Post subject: |
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I pay between 3,000 and 5,000. 16,500 sounds like no insurance, or getting a bunch of treatment.
With insurance, I got an ingrown toenail removed for 11,000.
| Lolimahro wrote: |
ttompatz, how do your basic doctor visits cost 3,000 won? Every time I got it's about 16,500. I do not use an international clinic. I've heard a lot of people quote such a number so I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong.
Pharmaceuticals are pretty cheap. Under NHIC, I've never paid more than 5,000 won for antibiotics for my son. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 6:13 am Post subject: |
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| Lolimahro wrote: |
ttompatz, how do your basic doctor visits cost 3,000 won? Every time I got it's about 16,500. I do not use an international clinic. I've heard a lot of people quote such a number so I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong.
Pharmaceuticals are pretty cheap. Under NHIC, I've never paid more than 5,000 won for antibiotics for my son. |
Co-pay costs vary depending on where you go for treatment.
Inpatient 10~20% of total treatment cost
(Co-payment for cancer treatment and rare diseas: 10%)
Outpatient:
Tertiary care hospital 60% of (treatment cost + Per-visit consultation fee)
General hospital 50% of (treatment cost + Per-visit consultation fee)
Hospital 40% of (treatment cost + Per-visit consultation fee)
Clinic 30% of treatment cost
Pharmacy 30% of total cost
Show your booklet and that is all you should pay. Consult fees used to be limited to 3000 won for a basic consult and most small clinics and hospitals still hold that price for the basic consult fee.
I also had physio for a torn rotator cuff and it only cost me 3500 won for a 40 minute session (3x per week). Seoul "Now" sports Clinic.
Dr. visit with corticosteroid injection into the shoulder joint = 15k won (visit, treatment and drug cost). "NOW" clinic.
Basic drill and fill at a dentist is 3500 won.
All covered by NHIC.
| jomiro wrote: |
anybody have any recommendations in regards to a second health insurance.
i also opted with that and asked at the insurance companies around here. ing e.g.
but its $400 per month. and thats way too steep. |
Oh, and your maximum co-payment is 4 million won per year.
Why would anyone spend $4800 for insurance (per year) when the maximum loss would only be $4000 or less. For a single person on your average teaching wage you would be at the 2 million maximum level.
Copayment ceiling system in connection with the contribution
For the relief of the household's financial burden by the excessive co-payment of the its seriously ill family member or costly treatment
co-payment ceiling in connection with the amount of the insured's contribution
- 2million won ; the insured's contribution amount is below the 50% of the level of the contribution amounts
- 3million won ; the insured's contribution amount is middle 30% of the level of the contribution amounts
- 4million won ; the insured's contribution amount is high 20% of the level of the contribution amounts
If the co-payment is over the ceilings above, the NHIC will pay the surplus of the co-payment.
When the total amount of medical care benefit costs of one year to be paid by the insured exceeds 2~4 million won in accordance with income in the same year, he or she is exempted from any futher co-payments incurred. this is to alleviate the financial burden of household against catastrophic or high-cost diseases helping to prevent them from falling into bankruptcy. This ceiling system is applicable for inpatient, outpatient, and pharmaceutical services.
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jomiro
Joined: 10 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 2:41 am Post subject: |
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well.. as far as costs go..
i once went to see an ob at the cha byeong won. pretty good one for anything concerning the woman's body.
however. they asked if i wanted to take some tests and i agreed, not knowing how much they were..
turned out i had to pay almost 200.000 krw right there.
some tests are extremely expensive.
yes, you can get them at other hospitals cheaper, but what good does it do me, if i go there and i dont understand the doctor.
me - no korean (or at least not enough to understand all the specific vocabularies), they - no english...
the doctors visit there is already at 7.500 per visit, i think.
so it might come in handy to get a secondary health insurance.
still no suggestions on which international health insurance might be a good one, huh? |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 4:36 am Post subject: |
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| jomiro wrote: |
well.. as far as costs go..
i once went to see an ob at the cha byeong won. pretty good one for anything concerning the woman's body.
however. they asked if i wanted to take some tests and i agreed, not knowing how much they were..
turned out i had to pay almost 200.000 krw right there.
some tests are extremely expensive.
yes, you can get them at other hospitals cheaper, but what good does it do me, if i go there and i dont understand the doctor.
me - no korean (or at least not enough to understand all the specific vocabularies), they - no english...
the doctors visit there is already at 7.500 per visit, i think.
so it might come in handy to get a secondary health insurance.
still no suggestions on which international health insurance might be a good one, huh? |
So let me understand...
You will shell out 200k per month (or more) for secondary insurance (2.4 million per year or more).
Your MAXIMUM co-pay under nhic is probably 2 million per year (unless you are making buckets more cash than an ESL teacher makes).
WHY ????
To save 200k on some tests that you incur once a year?
Not sure if that makes any sense.
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air76
Joined: 13 Nov 2007
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| Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 6:58 am Post subject: |
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Once in a blue moon we have to pay 1-2 hundred bucks for tests or some procedure that isn't covered by the National Insurance....I would hardly say that this fact warrants the purchase of secondary insurance.
I am amazed sometimes at what people want other people to pay for.
Did I hear correctly that you said "a doctor's visit is ALREADY at 7,500"??? A decent dongas runs 7,500 won, what do you expect to pay to go to the doc? A dollar fifty? |
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