It is contribution based & costs 7% total per month. Of that, 3.5% of your income is contributed towards the costs & your school covers the other 3.5%.

However, you are not covered until you have your alien registration which is about 2-4 weeks after arrival.

Please see here for further information : https://www.nhis.or.kr/english/index.do

When you do feel sick & need to visit the doctor, it doesn ' t cover you completely, only about 70%. Visiting the doctor + prescription will cost you around $10USD.

However, if you are involved in a serious accident, then the hospital bills can be considerable. The following 2 incidents happed to previous candidates whom did not have medical/travel insurance from their own country :

1. A teacher based in Incheon slipped & cracked his head on the floor. He suffered internal bleeding & brain damage as a result. His parents had to sell their house to cover the medical costs for the months of medical health care he needed.

2. A teacher deboarded a plane & as a result of deep-vein thrombosis collapsed in the airport & nearly died. Her family had to cover the medical bills which were extensive for the specialty health care & she was in the hospital for about a month.

I am giving these real examples not to scare you away but I really need to inform you that you need to be aware that if you don ' t have medical/ travel insurance from your own country; if something does happen then it is a huge problem.

Also, if you do use your vacation period to go on vacation abroad to Thailand, Bail, etc, your medical here will not cover you.

Therefore, I would strongly suggest that you get a comprehensive travel insurance from your own country to cover you against any eventuality globally for one full year.

Here ' s one that has been recommended

 

Please look into / similar policy before you arrive.