Health Insurance when traveling out of Taiwan

Hello Folks,

I have a question regarding health insurance when outside of Taiwan.

Currently have ARC card and the national health insurance, but this is only good for when I am actually in Taiwan. Does anyone know where I might be able to obtain any extra insurance which would cover me when I am outside of Taiwan? Is there any kind of extra policy I could purchase in Taiwan which could be as an addendum to the NHI coverage? I checked some travel insurance companies online, but those I have found do not offer policies for residents of Taiwan.

I have seen those booths at the airport which sell insurance, but my Taiwan friends & colleagues told me that they only cover the actual flights in case of some accident. Not any type of health coverage after reaching the destination.

There is a link on the NHI website stating that they will reimburse for emergency care costs when traveling abroad, but knowing how the system works here, I’m sure they would find a multitude of reasons why they would not be offering any reimbursement. Rather than taking a chance, I’d prefer to be a bit more proactive about this.

Thanks Everyone.

We use these guys: journeyman-services.com/travelInsurance.cfm

Many thanks for the link. Have you ever had to file any claims with them? If so, was it a relatively smooth process or were there any hassles about anything?

I used worldwideinsure.com, about the same pricing. I used it before when I flew from Germany to Taiwan. I got sick here and was hospitalized. Then it got a bit complicated cause YOU have to contact the insurance company within 24 hours of your hospitalisation. This can be a big PITA especially when you have pneumonia and high fever. They also requests all the documents right away as soon as the doctors wrote them such as updates to your condition etc.

If you have someone to take care of all that in case of an emergency it is quite easy to do and they paid on time in the end.

Previously I’ve used World Nomads, but the last few trips I’ve found World Escapade to be cheaper.

According to the wife, NHI will reimburse you for any medical expenses incurred overseas. Do not know the procedure though.

If this would be true my company would not setup a new insurance every time I go on business trip…they are greedy and they wouldn’t pay if they would not have to… so I don’t think NHI got you covered overseas…

Only for a ridiculously small amount… sth like 20,000 if I remember correctly. That wouldn’t even cover one night in a hospital bed in many places.

You can read my experiences with private travel experience insurance, including getting it reimbursed. Done it twice now with no trouble.

forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … e#p1195800

I used to buy it at the airport, but recently found some other companies, like Zurich Taiwan and Ace Travel Insurance are cheaper.

A foreginer in Taiwan can apply for a short term travel insurance which covers accidental and hospitalized expenses when traveling overseas. No need for ARC. Email me if you want to know the details. jessielyh@hotmail.com

Does anyone have any other / updated information on this?

I’m moving to Taiwan soon and will face the same issue. I will be covered by NHI but would also like to be reasonably covered when leaving the country. It seems a little unclear what exactly NHI provides in case of medical treatment required overseas - if it is capped at the costs that would incur in Taiwan, I consider that quite risky. Or am I wrong here?

Anyone who holds household registration in my home country (Germany) can get travel health insurance for about NT$400 per year that covers any trips outside Germany for a duration of up to 6 weeks each. Does anything like this exist in Taiwan? Or any alternatives to the two options (World Escapade / Journeyman Services) mentioned above?

Apply for that at the airport when leaving. My wife apply for all of us with Zurich online. It is all in Chinese though.

I now buy @ AIT, they have some combined health and life plan.

Earlier I bought at the airport, they have different plans, their coverage seemed decent, I think it was NT$1-2 mil covering illness and hospitalization etc. I then usually had NT$20mil life coverage thrown on top.

Again, I now travel a bit more than I used to do, so buying for a whole year makes more financial sense.

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About buying a whole year, be careful of exceptions on the coverage: my company has a global insurance for all its employes, we recently discovered that some parts of Philippines are not covered automatically and need a pre-declaration.

That I need to look at. Thanks for the heads-up.

Thanks for that. I just booked with them. The price is indeed very good. Also the policy after I bought it came from AIG Canada. it all looks good and very cheap.

Hi, Liam. When you say you booked with them, do you mean with NHI? Would you mind sharing the website where you applied? Thanks very much.

Think from the chat, he was talking about this:

Previously I’ve used World Nomads, but the last few trips I’ve found World Escapade 5 to be cheaper.

Are you, @matthewholland, doing this out of Taiwan or from HK or elsewhere?

My wife, son, and I live in Taiwan. My wife is Taiwanese and I am American. We all have NHI coverage in Taiwan and no health insurance in the USA. We will be flying back to the USA for six weeks on July 3, 2018. Thanks!

I would say your best bet is just buy travel insurance at the airport.
If in Taipei, you can even go to Sung-Shan airport counters before you leave to ask them about the prices, etc.
Sometimes, you can add travel insurance onto your ticket (but, you probably already bought the tix).
Or, you can google those 2 names that Liam asked about above.