Took a health exam back in my home country and I was told I have a deficiency in iron and Vitamin D.
How do I get these tablets in Taiwan? Do people normally buy it online? Is this something that can be covered by the NHI? Do i just walk into any clinic?
1 Like
I think pretty much any pharmacy. Watsons and the like are a bit of a ripoff IMO, but if you’re in Taipei the two pharmacies below (a few doors apart) are quite reasonable:
I bought vitamin D from the second one a couple of weeks back. It was the brand below — NT$159 for 120 tablets, so pretty cheap.
I’ve never bought iron supplements but I would imagine they’re readily available too.
I wouldn’t bother going to a clinic for this or trying to use NHI. Maybe they’re covered if you have a genuine deficiency, maybe they’re not, not sure. Given you’ve already been told you have a deficiency though, I think may as well just buy them then maybe consider going to a doctor in a couple of months to see if things have improved.
You could also try ordering from iHerb, but I don’t know what the current situation is with that. For more expensive supplements I might have a go because those can be ridiculously priced in Taiwan, but for vitamin D and iron, probably not.
1 Like
That vitamin D dosage is pretty low though.
Iherb has the high dosage stuff.
1 Like
Yeah, but at that price you can take more than one without having to deal with ordering from abroad.
I order from iherb often The delivery is free after a certain amount, the tax is refunded if it’s below a certain amount and I’ve had orders arrive on Monday that I ordered on the prior Thursday
2 Likes
Do you have to keep it under NT$2000 each time to avoid taxes etc., or can you go over without too much hassle/cost?
The iHerb free delivery is handled by a courier, which has to go through customs inspection at Taoyuan, where the NT$2,000 threshold is strictly enforced. Once or twice I was a few NT$ over the limit and had to pay duty and VAT on the entire shipment.
3 Likes
This is what has put me off since the changes a couple of years ago. I looked at ordering some stuff a few weeks ago but it seemed like the number of items I could order before exceeding the limit was quite small.
How much is duty/VAT typically?
Duty is levied separately for each item depending on its customs category. IIRC the rates I’ve paid have ranged from about 10% to 30%. The VAT rate is (I think) 5%, and it’s applied to the sum of the value of the goods + duty + shipping.
At iHerb you are presented with an estimate of duty + taxes during the order process. If you go ahead with the order, iHerb charges you for duty+taxes as well as the value of the order based on the assumption that you’re not going get the duty-free exemption. When the shipment completes customs clearance, if the actual amount levied for duty+taxes, if any, is less than the amount iHerb charged you, iHerb issues you a credit for the difference. If the actual amount is higher, you don’t have to pay anything extra. In my experience the credit has been issued within 2 or 3 days of shipment delivery (unlike with Amazon, which typically takes months to issue duty+tax credits).
2 Likes
When you are ordering, they have already added on the import tax to the product price. So what i normally do is add products up to about 2300 to 2500. Then you go in the basket and you will see that the actual price is less than 2000 if the tax isnt included. Then i order and pay 2500 odd only to later receive the tax credited back.
3 Likes
Are you a woman?
This is common in women because of not eating enough animal products. Get some meat, fish, and eggs in your diet and it’s unlikely you’ll lack in them unless there’s some serious underlying issue.
1 Like