Hey guys, if you're a foreigner I think that the following may be of help for you.
I had to go to hospital for surgery on Monday. I'm sure the hospital screwed me
out of my insurance money (there is an investigation being made into it now by
the insurance company)
Anyway, if you find that you need to visit the hospital, this is what I have found
out:
1. You need your alien card. The number on the card acts as a reference to your
insurance deal (if you have insurance)
2. You need to ask the price of the surgery (or other service) ... I was given 3
different quotes by 3 different people for the SAME operation in the SAME hospital.
3. Before agreeing to the price (I found that it is negotiable), you may want to
ring the NHIC insurance company (I assume that all foreigners belong to this
insurance company) and ask them if they can talk to the hospital and agree that
everything is really correct. It would have saved me some headaches if I had
known this.
4. The NHIC insurance telephone number for ENGLISH SPEAKERS is 02-390-2000.
The hospital that I used gave me a discount of 300 000 KRW. Then, they put that
discount on the receipt as an INSURANCE claim. I would suggest that is slightly
suspicious activity.
Anyway, I hope this info is useful for other foreigners. I didn't have it at the time
that I needed it. Some problems could have been avoided otherwise.
I hope no-one ever needs to use this info ... have a safe stay in Korea :)