Health Insurance

[gkj]

Hi.

I'll go to Tokyo next October as a long-term student, and I'm making preparations for my stay in Japan.

Now I have to decide about the Health Insurance. The obligatory one of the school is valid only during lessons time, so I was thinking about a second one. The school suggested me to enter the National Health Insurance, but it covers only the 70

Comments

[sabishii_kirito]

This. I had national health when I studied abroad, and it was pretty good. I think it was about 15,000 yen for a year because my only income was scholarships. Also, "only 70%" is a bit misleading... Health costs here are pretty cheap (at least compared to the US where I'm from) even without insurance. With insurance, it's practically free for most regular visits. The most I've paid for an appointment that didn't include any sort of procedure was like 1500 yen, and that was more than most visits I've made.

[maetel9]

scratch that, my payments are 1500 a month
& according to the booklet, enrollment is mandatory "for all foreign residents, unless you are enrolled in a publicly-managed employee insurance programs. [those] operated by corporations or foreign organizations do not qualify"

[hinoai]

I have national health insurance and regularly use it at the dentist and hospitals or clinics. It covers anything that's not something aesthetic. For example, insurance paid for my root canal, but when I wanted a ceramic crown instead of the ugly metal one, I had to pay for just the crown part of the bill myself. But at 20,000 yen (full cost!!), even that was so much cheaper than the US!

[angelachibayuy]

Whoever told you about the national health insurance is either stupid or misled, as all posters have said NHI is the greatest thing ever. Once you have it here you seriously want to slap the sense into people in the US who think that socialist healthcare is evil. The most I pay is for birth control, but at 3,000 for one month supply that isn't bad. With or without insurance health care is cheap, and 70% of that cheapness is usually almost nothing. Without income your monthly payments will be really low as well, and if they are higher at first, go to the city hall say you have no income and it will be reduced to under 2,000 a month.

[nova_usagi]

National health insurance can be used at the hospital and most clinics. Anywhere where you get your prescriptions filled, co-pay should cover part of the meds...

Your health insurance should be mad cheap (about $25 a month) since you`ll be new to Japan. If you get a part time job, it`ll be based on your income from the previous year.

The co-pay is pretty decent. I had a wicked cold, went to the hospital Monday night since I couldn`t make it to a clinic that day, had a check up, chest x-rays, and full blood work which ended up being about $50. And 3 days` worth of 5 different kinds of meds (the doctor wanted to make sure I felt better ASAP and didn`t have to miss any school) only cost me about $10. And my insurance is under $30 a month since I`m a full time student without a part time job.