Anybody get additional health coverage?

It’s my understanding that some people get private health insurance in addition to their NHI coverage.

Is this a smart move? And if so, what additional coverage should I get? Or in what areas is NHI really lacking?

I have no health problems. Late forties. Just being safe.

It is a must. As a forigner, you may not have family here, and even the best network of friends can be streched thin due to the nature of hospitalization here.

At hospitals here, it si assumed your family is with you at all times. Nurses take care of the medical part, medicines, bandages, etc. But geting up and down the bed, baths, etc. you may need to hire someone to come help. That is why it si impotantnnt to have extra coverage.

Extra coverage is alos necessary because some medications and extras -like support nets for your insides, special kind of bandages so you won’t get ugly scars, painkillers, etc. are not covered by NHI. Operations costs may escalate.

You may have credit cards and savings, but you never know. My coverage includes if I am disabled and can’t work afterwards, whether from an acident or sickness, for example.

Local or international, especially as you get older, extra insurance is highy reccommended.

Thank you for that. I’ll be talking with my insurance agent this evening. He wants me to buy into insurance + savings for my youngest. I’m not interested and I already told him.

But I do want to talk to him about private health insurance for me and my wife. It would be good to go into the conversation with a bit of knowledge. Your input helps. I would love to hear from others, too.

It depends on your tolerance for risk (and for ma fan).

I used to have extra insurance, for which I paid nearly 30K a year. I didn’t really want it, but succumbed to the Taiwanese “oh, but you must, because everyone does!” line of hectoring.

I did once claim from it (for a broken leg) and got back all of my medical expenses + some (10K or so). However, the fact is I’d already given them 60K by that point. I also wasted about 10K of my time filling in endless forms and getting receipts from the hospital. I cancelled the policy soon after.

My opinion is (and always has been) it would be better to just stash that money in the bank. In ten years you ought to be able to save a million or two. If you end up spending it on hospital bills then so be it. If you don’t, it’s yours to do with as you wish. OTOH, it depends on your views about terminal illnesses. My insurance covered cancer, for example, but I’m at an age where, if I did develop aggressive cancer, I’d rather ship myself off to Switzerland and have myself put down. You might have a fundamentally different view, in which case the million-plus cover offered by insurance schemes will be a big comfort. If you have children, that alters the whole ballgame.

I would say this: private medical insurance in Taiwan is considerably less expensive than it would be for an equivalent policy in the UK. No idea about other countries. The insurance reps, in my experience, tend to be decent people who will give you reasonable advice and won’t be overly pushy (beyond what you’d expect from someone trying to make a living).

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Some companies refuse us atoga. But if your wife is local, no biggie.

If you run into any trouble and live in Taipei, I can hook you up with my agent.

The thing is that the younger you start, the more you save. We oldies pay more because of existing conditions, like blood pressure and overweight and being old.

There are also legal issues with getting insurance for kiddies. I am not so clear on that but it is to prevent scams. Clarify that with your agent.

When I first started buying life insurance, I remember the advice I kept getting/reading about was to get insurance to cover things in case of a disability, like Icon mentioned above. I think that is something that’s very smart to buy into.

A long, drawn-out illness that makes work impossible but is not so bad that you will die right away is really the kind of thing you should get some protection against (it’s worse than death for your family). Depressing as hell to think about, but I think it does need to be considered. I think this kind of insurance is pretty expensive, though. Well, I’ll ask about it tonight.

Re: whether to insure your kids, if you pay for it when they are very young, it is much cheaper, as Icon has pointed out, and then they have that policy for life. Whether or not you think it ends up being worth it is a personal calculus, and it depends on unpredictable timing of illness or death as well as your financial situation. My sister’s small policy covered her funeral expenses, and she only paid the premium a couple years before she died (tragically, two months after her wedding).

My small policy is not a particularly good investment, if you look at it as such, compared to investing the same amount, but if you come down with a major illness meeting the policy criteria (e.g. heart or liver disease or most cancers in my case) within 10 years after starting the policy, then it’s worth it. If you don’t, then it’s probably not. It’s a gamble. That’s what insurance does – spread the risk out, share it with others, and pay a premium for the privilege of doing so. Can you afford to cover the cost of your illness or funeral with your own cash? If yes, consider not buying insurance, and instead investing the same cash. But could you NOT afford the cost? Get insured. Or are you the type who would NOT save and invest unless forced to by the insurance bills? In that case, the calculus may be different. Forced savings plans may be a good idea for certain types of people.

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I’ve finally gotten around to this. Someone I know personally who has helped me with various financial issues sells insurance (he used to be involved in real estate). Here’s what he had to say. Can anyone make any sense of this? I asked for clarification but would love to hear from others. Is this what I should be getting?

What I want protection from is having to pay for a serious illness to cover what the National Health Insurance doesn’t cover. I also want some kind of income if I can’t work. Thanks to anyone that wants to provide their opinion on this.

a) If you get sick,accident or disabled and make you hospitalize. We found you belongs to the first~sixth-degree disabled. You don’t need to pay the insurance fee anymore. Our company will give you 24 times according to the degree from first to eleventh.

b) We will supply if the first~sixth-degree disabled. That is, the amount issured NT$50,000 for 12 times per year till 85 years old but won’t last beyond 50 years.
For example, If one man is insured at 30 years old but disable at 40 years old. We’ll only pay him to 85 years old. Not till 90(40+50) years old.

In my case, it meant that aside from hospitalization, I was given an equivalent amount, which I used to pay for my pets’ hotel and caregiver expenses while I was away at the hospital. Some people make money out of hospitalization, I came out even. If I had not that “extra” expense, then i would have pocketed that money. If you work independelntly or hourly, that money would serve to compensate your losses by not working while sick.

Disabled I rememebr that I have two types of coverage but can’t tell the details right off the top of my head. Will check.

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