Travel Insurance

Taiwan Where Can I Find...?
1

Since I’ve been out of Canada for over a year now, they won’t give me Travel Insurance. They said I need to buy it locally in Taiwan. Where can I find travel insurance? It seems like it will be very hard to make a claim if I need to. (don’t speak much Chinese!)

Thanks!

2

This question has been asked before:

threads on travel insurance:
[Buying travel insurance in taiwan?
[Travel insurance?

threads on private health insurance:
[Health insurance
[Health Insurance Advice Wanted
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?t=1462

HTH
Iris

3

All National Health Insurance card holders qualify for reimbursement of medical costs incurred while overseas, according to the webiste:

http://www.nhi.gov.tw/00english/e_index.htm

[quote]Q1: What is the coverage under the NHI program?

Ans: The insured is entitled to receive the following comprehensive medical benefits:

(1) The outpatient service, impatient care and drugs that are provided by the contracted medical care stitutions in the case of illness, injury or childbearing.

(2) The preventive health care, such as children’s preventive health care, prenatal examinations and adult’s health examinations.

(3) After receiving emergency treatment at a non-contracted medical institution in Taiwan, or at a medical institutions overseas, beneficiaries may subsequently apply to the BNHI for cash reimbursement of medical expenses paid out-of-pocket. Reimbursements are made according to the fee schedules published by the BNHI.
[/quote]

Of course, this does mean you finding the money to pay for the initial expenses while overseas on your own, and probably that if you’re in a 1st-world country, where medical expenses are sky-high, you will not be fully re-imbursed, but it’s better than nothing, and it’s “free”. i.e. you are covered already if you are paying monthly NHI fees.

When I went to Japan with my gf last year, she took out travel insurance through a local travel agent, but it was rather outrageously priced, like NT$1500 for our 7-day trip, and with all sorts of odd limitations. Of course, it all depends on how paranoid, hypochondriac-like you are, or the type of destination you’re heading to.