Coverage of NHI for orthopedic surgery

Hi! I arrived in Taiwan earlier this year for work. I have an ARC and I just received my health insurance card, and I was wondering if hip replacement surgery is covered by the NHI?

damn, isn’t that a long recovery procedure?

yeah. short-term recovery is around 4-6 weeks, others can come back after 1 or 2.

I might be able to strike a deal with my employer (I work less than 30 hours a week, and it’s office work).

I couldn’t find any info online on co-payments for the procedure.

could always do it during your vacation period?

NHI covers basics. If you need extra pain killers, you pay. If you want to choose which prothesis -there are several kinds- you pay. As a foreigner alone here, you must be aware that nurses will not be there to help you, they are only there to change drips and optehr medical stuff. People here have their families feed them and take care of them, so you will need to hire someone to take care of you, especially since yopur surgery is teh kind where you can’t more. This can be arranged by the hospital, but you pay. It is not expensive, quite affordable and in most cases necessary.

Oh and NHI basic means you are booked with 4 to 10 others in a room, depending on the hospital. If you want a two person or a single suite, you pay. It is also very affordable, like 1000 ntd a day up to 5000 in the fanciest places. You choose. If you want to rest, pick 2 or single. 4 people does not sound that bad but rememebr they have their caretakers, their families with them. All day, all night.

Can’t stress enough how much you really want to get a single room here! You will be driven demented if you are sharing, particularly if you are bedridden.

DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER A SHARED ROOM!

But first get private hospital insurance, private rooms are only covered for the part that you get for a 3-4 person shared. It’s not as expensive in the US or Europe tho, but still.

And they will get you food if you don’t have anyone, but that’s about it.

Even two doesn’t cut it for me, I spent more than 3 weeks in a double, no way again.

Can you recommend an insurance company for that?

So I’d have to shoulder 100% cost?

If ever I go through with surgery, I might bring my wife over.

noise-cancelling headphones might do the work though… hahaha

Unless they can control the air-conditioning, get rid of unpleasant sights and smells, prevent relatives opening your curtain to look at the foreigner, stop all your bored neighbours kids running around and bouncing off your bed, and a million other things then no they won’t work.

I heard that “quality of life” issues were covered, at least in part. I could be wrong. Probably am. OK, then Quality of Life should be covered.

Quality of life is if it is necessary to help you get by. I.E. Is the new knee absolutely necessary, or will having it improve you well being? Or, if someone who was morbidly obese lost a lot of weight, and the excess skin needed to come off. Having that excess skin could, and probably will, create problems. Things like that.

Exactly. Basic model is NHI. Latest tech you pay. Still cheaper that IS or other developed placed for the same high grade stuff. That is why Overseas compatriots come back for anything above dental fillings. And you have a choice.

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I agree whole heartedly. It is cheaper than the US. That sounds bad to say because it sounds like I, as a foreigner, am taking advantage of the system. I pay into, so. I had an MRI here. Wow. Stateside that same test would have ran an easy NT$150k. Here, NT$10k out of pocket. Then the yankee comeback is “well, the treatment is subpar” to which I can only shake my head. Treatment is on par with the west.

@ebags06
How much did the orthopaedic surgery cost? What was your experience?

I only ask because I fear I might have a herniated disc

I ended up not undergoing the procedure there. My doctor did tell me that my procedure was going to cost me around 40-60K NTD, plus the cost of a private nurse/caretaker. I was going to have a 3-month recovery period, with 1 month basically in bed. I just couldn’t do it.

@ebags06
Thank you for your response.

Did you have NHI?
Would supplemental insurance helped?

Also, what was the procedure?
Was hip replacement not covered?