Korean National Health Insurance Service

Knowing when to go to the hospital and how much to pay is very important no matter in what country you live. But especially as a foreigner you need to be insured. Until 2019, expats weren't obliged to have insurance, unless the school was asking for a private one, however, now it is mandatory for everyone to have one. The cost of medical bills in Korea is actually quite high and without insurance coverage, you can end up paying even more than 1 million KRW at once.

Any foreigner or overseas Korean who has stayed in Korea for over six months is subject to a mandatory subscription to health insurance (From July 16, 2019). Usually, the subscription is made automatically through the system, but in case you don't receive any bill or message, call the customer center and ask for more details.

Insurance is available for certain types of visas:

1. Culture & Arts (D-1), Students (D-2), Industrial training (D-3), General Training (D-4), Press coverage (D-5), Religious workers (D-6), intra-company transfer (D-7), Investment (D-8), Trade and management (D-9), Job seeking and Startup visa (D-10)

2. Professor (E-1), Foreign language teaching (E-2), Research (E-3), Technological guidance (E-4), Professional employment (E-5), Arts and entertainment (E-6), Specific activities (E-7), Non-professional employment (E-9), Labor abroad (E-10)

3. Visiting for cohabitation (F-1), Residence (F-2), Dependents (F-3), Overseas-based Korean (F-4), Permanent resident (F-5), Marriage immigration(F-6)

4. Tourism employment(H-1), Visiting employment (H-2)

5. G-1 (other), F-1 (visiting cohabitation), F-2 (residential), F-3 (accompany), F-4 (foreigner), overseas Koreans

Usually, expats that don't work or are not students have to pay the contribution in full, which can be around 140,000 KRW starting in 2022.

To be able to use the insurance you have to pay it monthly and not have any debts. In case you didn't pay for more than 3 months, then your stay in Korea may suffer, you may have penalties, and also, changing your visa may be canceled.

Every month the bill will be issued at your choice (by post or email), on 15-16th by post and 11th by email. You should pay the exact amount on the bill by the 25th of each month. In case you couldn't then you should call their customer, center and ask for a 24h account for transferring the money to. There is another option, which you can choose, that being for them to withdraw automatically the amount from your bank account, but for this, you have to call them and specify that you want this.

Remember, you have to pay the EXACT amount by 25th, or otherwise call them.

Health Care Benefits

• Services are provided by healthcare institutions in case of diseases, injuries, etc. Including diagnosis, tests, medical materials, treatments, surgeries, preventive care, rehabilitation, hospitalization, nursing, and transportation

Once at 2 years free Health Checkups

The National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) provides medical care assistance to its recipients and health insurance to its subscribers through health checkups. The purpose of a health checkup is disease prevention or early detection to prevent its further advancement, and appropriate measures can be taken to maintain good health.

General health screening aims for the prevention and early detection of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, such as hypertension and diabetes. The screening targets individuals above 20 years old and it shall be conducted once every 2 years (based on the odd and even number of your birth year). However, there are no age limits for those who are local members with a householder and working members and it shall be conducted once every year for those who are working members with non-office work experience (therefore if you work full time in Korea every year you should do your health check-up).

Health checkups

• General Health checkup expenses: Free of Charge

  • 22 items including blood test

  • Those who are suspected of having high blood pressure or getting diabetes will have a second test for that

Cancer checkup

• 4 Types of Cancer checkups: Stomach Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Breast Cancer, and Liver Cancer screening and pap-test

• Cost is shared by NHIS (90%) and Beneficiary (10%) for colorectal cancer, cervical cancer: no co-payment on patients

Appointment and visiting the health screening agency

You can schedule a health screening test in ANY AUTHORIZED hospital regardless of the area you are residing in. Please bring your ID and Medical Checkup Card to your appointment. To search for a hospital on the application go to the 검진기관/병(의)원 찾기 then the ones close to your home will appear.

Notification of the screening results

The screening results shall be mailed to the contact information of the examinee by the screening agency in the place where the screening took place, and a confirmation checkup shall be conducted on those suspected of disease based on the general health checkup results.

For more information visit the website, download the app or call the customer center.

NHIS website | iOS | Android CallAndroid Call Center English Consultant · 82-33-811-2000 NHIS branch locations in Seoul