I assume you are a foreigner, which means you would need a visa to live here, who is providing this for you? Do you have another job - if not you may want to consider a 15 hour a week part time job just to get the insurance card.
But to be honest, I’m more worried about insurance than visa a the moment…
you’re going to be spending a ton of money just for visa runs… and private insurance. you’d really be better off getting a job that will provide you with an arc… 15 hours a week like posted above. if you’re coming here to freelance, then you probably have a pretty flexible schedule.
if you really don’t mind doing visa runs (maybe your employer will pay for them?) then you can look into travel insurance from your home country and see if it would provide coverage for a year - since technically you will be in and out of Taiwan on visa runs. i got travel insurance through ING here in taiwan before I went back to the states and canada since i no longer have health insurance in either countries. i think i paid 1,500NT for a month of coverage; stipulation being i would be covered if i didn’t get treatment for anything i had treatment for in the previous six months in taiwan. :s
just call your local private insurance company and ask.
Of course, it would be much easier if I’d just become a teacher and have a 14hours week, tons of money and no visa problems, but I’d rather have a job with more perspective. I might go back to my home country some day and where I’m coming from you need some reference to find a decent job.
So, thanks for your concerns, but please don’t worry about me too much. I’d just like to get some advice on a good international insurance.
Thanks
Try this site: http://www.insuremytrip.com/
I have purchased insurance with them a couple of times. If you are looking at long periods of time (1year or more) you’ll be buying one of the Expat plans.
The insurance covers the big stuff, hospitalization if you are in an accident, medivac, repatriation of your remains if you bite it, and an emergency ticket home if you have a death in the family and you need to break off your trip. It will also cover trips to the doctor if you get sick along the way, after you burn through the deductable.
You can choose how much you want to insure yourself for, I ususally get something really big like $500,000 or a million. The reason is I want to spare myself and more importantly my family back home in the event I need extreme surgery or extensive hospitalization.
The insurance, like most insurance these days, does not cover “pre-exisiting conditions”. In other words, if you arrive in the ROC with congenital heart problems - the insurance will not want to deal with long term treatment of the problem. Dental seems to be pretty limited in these plans, too. If you participate in adventure sports you will need to purchase an additional rider for that.
Glad to know that you are going to sort yourself out - the consequences of being uninsured can be devistating. Case in point: When I first arrived in the ROC back in 1989, the first week I was there, I heard an appeal broadcast on ICRT from and English family whose son had split his head open while riding a motorcycle without a helmet (before the helmet laws). He was in a coma, basically braindead, laid up in a hospital in Tienmou. The family had bankrupted themselves paying for the care, and were reduced to asking the international community for handouts.
One more thing, if you are already in the ROC you might have to give the impression that you are still in your home country when you fill out the forms online. They will want to insure your trip from a starting date to an end date - you can stipulate these - and the insurance does not cover you while you are at home.
For the one year plan that I have now, I paid about $950.
I was equivocating about which forum subject to post under, but since the main purpose of my post is to find a way to provide myself with health coverage, I’ll post here.
Even with an ARC, I have to wait four months (from the date of issue) until I’m able to access national health insurance, according to the official my wife talked to during household registration. We tried to purchase private health insurance for me from a local agent last week, but today we were told that I’m not eligible. I guess my only option for coverage is to get a full time job, but that leaves me without any coverage at all during the interim. Are there any other options available for short-term medical coverage?
thanks all for your advice.
Check the link below. I know people with wives and children who have been here 10 years on visa’s and never got ARC’s so there must be a lot of people with the same problem.
Hope this link helps and others can help you here as well.
[Forumosa - Taiwan's largest and most active Taiwan-oriented global online community in English … ate#171324](Int'l Health insurance for Taiwan expats not covered by NHI - #23 by bushibanned
Thanks Ironman,
I’ll check it out and see what I can turn up.
It’s one month later, and still I have not found a source for short-term health coverage. My wife works part time at three universities, so no chance of getting national health that way. I don’t want to teach full-time and sign a one year contract either, which would be the other way to get national health right away.
Got my ARC last week, and the folks at The Yishan road office of ING in Kaohsiung (name and shame) told me two weeks ago that I could purchase coverage once I had my ARC. They set up an appointment for this morning at 11am, but then the woman called to say she’d be late, then called again half an hour later to inform me that I wasn’t eligible for insurance. I’m quite annoyed that she didn’t have the courtesy or professionalism to do some reserach and tell me this two weeks ago!
I’d not bother to mention this except for the fact that this the second time that it has gone down this way. I declined life insurance again this time, and wonder if this has anything to do with it? Is it just a lack of professionalism, or do I smell a scam?
Anyway, I’m still without any coverage, and don’t know what to do next: I don’t want to wind up in a coma after a scooter accident and put my wife in tremendous debt. All I need is a few months coverage until I’m eligible for national health in February.
Plotch,
If you are still looking for health insurance coverage take a look at this site by Expatplanner.com :
expatplanner.com/Internation … urance.htm
I’ve been using the health insurance policy provided by International Medical Group (IMG) for a few years and have been very happy with it.
Mind you, I use it strictly as insurance (real health emergencies – not for when I have simple colds etc.) — I selected a relatively high deductible of $250 to secure a lower annual premium.
[quote=“mesheel”]So, thanks for your concerns, but please don’t worry about me too much. I’d just like to get some advice on a good international insurance.
Thanks[/quote]
Of the expat insurance I’ve looked at, Goodhealth looks about the best in terms of coverage and value for money. Only works if you’re an expat though, rather than living in your passport country and travelling a lot. goodhealthworldwide.com/ I have the Major Medical one, but you might need to go for the full monty (out-patient as well) if yuo have no Jian Bao card. I put up a longwinded post about expat medical insurance the other day over here.
Hi.
I’m about to start studying at Shida university this coming fall. I read in their student bulletin that all students are required to purchase a local health insurance. In addition I’ve been offered to buy a private global health insurance.This private insurance is quite comprehensive and also quite expensive (130 US$ per month) Is anyone familiar with the local insurance provided for foreign students? is an additional insurance neccessary?
If you are a full-time student with an ARC you will have to enroll in the National Health Insurance programme. You need to give more details of your status at Shi Da. Are you on a MoFA scholarship? US$130 a month is about right for expat health insurance (inpatient and outpatient). You will have to be careful about the excess - is it cumulative or per visit? Sometimes paying in full is cheaper than the excess if it is per condition/visit.
first and foremost - thanx for your reply.
I am on a Mofa scholarship.However I dont know if the first year counts as being a full time student (the first year is studying at the Mandarin training center).What does excess mean exactly?
The expat health insurance representative explained me that the first 250 US$ (cumulative annualy) are on my expense and that the insurance “kicks in” after that. about tha ARC - I understand that you get it only after about 6 months or a year, in the meanwhile shouldnt I have an expat insurance?
and a few more questions - would buying an expat insurance in taiwan be cheaper? After I enroll in the National Health Insurance programme is double coverage still neccessary or is it sufficient ?
They should give you a Jianbao card if you’re on the 1-yr scholarship. I can’t remember actually how it works… You would need to check whether you get the card straight away. When I got my scholarship there was no Quanmin Jianbao (started in 1995) and it was a private Taiwanese insurance company that issued the Jianbao cards.
US$250 is too much of an excess. The Jianbao will do for seeing the doctor for normal stuff like a sore tummy and the like, but for the big stuff where you need to be in a hospital, well… My experience with Taiwanese doctors and hospitals has been fairly poor, and I have expat isurance from an English firm. On the other hand, it is just for inpatient stuff, tests, and outpatient surgery, and there is no excess. What you have sounds like travel insurance.
There is no facility for foreigners here to buy meaningful health insurance in Taiwan. You can buy some sort of Everything Insurance which is very popular, but it is mainly for long-termers, you have to have a Taiwanese spouse, and the benefits are not what they used to be a few years ago.
I recommend you look for expat insurers and explain your situation to them. You can buy expat insurance once you are out here. The minimum term is one year.
my insurance is much more comprehensive than regular travel insurance including inpatient and outpatient care. thank you for your answers - they were quite helpfull.
been rooting around in these threads concerning
insurance beyond the NHI.
one company mentioned with an office in hong kong hasn’t
replied to an e-mail asking why Taiwan wasn’t listed
in their “locations” !
the devil is in the details -
would you two please give names, e-mail addresses
or telephone numbers of these companies you are
discussing.
as an aside lucan, my has mother has gone through pre-op
and just been through post-op pain. you have to pray to
the white jacketed gods in the right lunar alignment to
get divine intervention that can be dealt with with a
stroke of their pen.
My insurance is with Goodhealth: goodhealthworldwide.com/
Goodhealth Worldwide
(Asia Pacific) Limited
3204A, Tower 1
Admiralty Centre
18 Harcourt Road
Hong Kong
Toll free number: + 800 624 81000
T +852 2104 7486
F +852 2147 9960
enquiries@goodhealth.com.hk
I used their web form to contact them and a chap from HK rang back and was very helpful. They are thinking of opening a Taiwan office. They gave the most direct answers to my questions. You have to ask these guys a lot of questions and go through the policy wording with a fine tooth comb. There are a lot of difference between the policies, but it’s all in the details. One company, for example, insists you use your jianbao card (defeating the purpose of the insurance IMHO), others won’t pay for an air ambulance within a country (but they all do evacuation of course), for some the transplant amount is per lifetime, and for some the limit is £500k, which is not enough. I’ll be posting my opinion on the companies later on today as I have gone through most of them.
[quote=“Lord Lucan”]My insurance is with Goodhealth: goodhealthworldwide.com/
Goodhealth Worldwide
(Asia Pacific) Limited
3204A, Tower 1
Admiralty Centre
18 Harcourt Road
Hong Kong
Toll free number: + 800 624 81000
T +852 2104 7486
F +852 2147 9960
enquiries@goodhealth.com.HK
I used their web form to contact them and a chap from HK rang back and was very helpful. They are thinking of opening a Taiwan office. They gave the most direct answers to my questions. You have to ask these guys a lot of questions and go through the policy wording with a fine tooth comb. There are a lot of difference between the policies, but it’s all in the details. One company, for example, insists you use your jianbao card (defeating the purpose of the insurance IMHO), others won’t pay for an air ambulance within a country (but they all do evacuation of course), for some the transplant amount is per lifetime, and for some the limit is £500k, which is not enough. I’ll be posting my opinion on the companies later on today as I have gone through most of them.[/quote]
Thankyou. I’ve contaced this company as well. 