I’m in Taiwan on a working holiday visa. I had purchased travel insurance originally but had to postpone my trip so cancelled it. Then when I could finally leave it was in a bit of a rush and I completely forgot to purchase health insurance again before departing. I’m not sure if it’s standard for other countries or not but with Australian insurers it’s impossible to get travel insurance once you have already overseas. I’m not eligible for the NHI on my visa, so I don’t have any insurance at all. I was wondering if there are any options to get private health insurance in Taiwan that doesn’t just supplement the NHI scheme, but is actually complete standalone insurance.
I also don’t have an ARC, even though I’m technically a resident (I think) and I have working rights. Not sure if this will be an issue, but I imagine it will.
Just to clarify I’m not expecting to be covered for COVID or cancellations or anything ‘travel’ related really. I just want a basic level of health cover while I’m here so that if I break my back or something I’m not completely screwed.
A few years back prior to having an ARC and NHI, I forgot to get Travel Insurance. I did try later and it worked, just meant that the start date could not be backdated.
I purchased my local health insurance less than a month after entering Taiwan. But this would not necessarily contradict @meishijia. We all know how inconsistently rules on what foreigners can or cannot do are applied here Having said that, I also confirm that ARC is a must.
I have never heard of such limitations in place for Australians. Is it a recent move due to COVID?
Did you read the PDS? I’ll take a look but I’ve yet to find one that doesn’t state that your insurance is only valid if purchased prior to departure. Edit: just checked, need to have purchased before departure.
This isn’t new. I remember seeing this clause more than once when traveling in the past.
If you have an Australian issued Credit Card, see what the go is with that. I know that with the CBA, it wouldn’t let me put a past date in against my Cards to tell them I was overseas, rather I was told to just start a fresh from ‘today’ until the estimated end date as they drive their Insurance off the CC travel dates.
I’ve got an Amex but it’s literally the only card that doesn’t come with insurance. Didn’t even realise that was a thing before I had this issue. Would have been way cheaper to upgrade to a better card than it would be to buy a new policy.
Most private health insurance from USA covers accident and emergency overseas. You can check if your insurance cover that.
Other than that, doctor visit cost are very affordable and sometimes even lower than the typical copayment in the US.
Having said that, I also confirm that ARC is a must.