ROK Government Announces Health Care Changes for Expats
Here is some news about health care coverage changes that expats in South Korea need to be aware of:
Stricter terms will be applied to foreign residents to prevent possible abuse of the national health insurance system, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced, Sunday.
Korea Times
According to the changes, effective from July, all foreigners who have continuously resided in the country for at least six months must subscribe to the state healthcare program through a non-employer-sponsored plan and pay monthly premiums.
Previously, mandatory registration was only applied to salaried workers, leading to cases where foreigners who needed high-cost medical procedures signed up for the program because those covered by the insurance get around 62 percent of essential medical costs reimbursed.
Such cases of opportunism ― mostly found in temporary visitors rather than settled residents ― led the ministry to raise the minimum period of residency to make one eligible for the state insurance from three months to six months last December.
Those who leave Korea for 30 continuous days are dropped from the system and must reside another six months here to be eligible for the insurance coverage again.
The monthly premium for foreign subscribers has also become higher than before, about the average of all Koreans, while it used to be the average of Koreans registered with the non-employer-sponsored plan only. This year’s figure was set around 103,000 won ($90).
You can read more at the link, but $90 a month for the national health care plan is really affordable even if it only covers 62% of medical costs.
