Keeping health insurance in your home country

[GaijinPunch]

Anyone do this? Now that I'm at the ripe old age of 33, I'm wondering what would happen if I got a chronic illness and wanted to move back to the US. I only have national health insurance here. I got a wakeup call of sorts when I went to the US last month and had to visit the ER.

 

[JerseyBoy]

Do you have the health insurance coverage by the company you work for (if you are running your own business, please disregard this post)? The health insurance coverage by my employer (a multinational company headquartered in overseas) can cover medical care costs outside Japan.

 

[Glenski]

Save the receipts from overseas medical treatments. Explain them when you bring them to your ward office for payment by national health insurance. Probably wise to have some doctor's explanation attached, certified, translated. NHI pays the same 70% as if it were in Japan, as long as the treatment itself is covered here.

 

[pipokun]

Both Glenski and JerseyBoy are right about the NHI and the salaryman's Shakai Hoken covering the medical cost in certain cases outside Japan.

But the GaijinPunch's case, the 1st one, is about his trip for the treatment purpose.

I'm wondering what would happen if I got a chronic illness and wanted to move back to the US.

I don't think this case will be covered.
Even travel insurance does not cover treatment of your chronic disease except some special ones for expats and their family going to another countries.

*snip
Some life insurance policies cover the hospitalization outside Japan.
*

I got a wakeup call of sorts when I went to the US last month and had to visit the ER.

In this case, you may have right to claim the refund like I did.
You need to translate some documents such as...

Attending Physician's Statement
Receipt for your treatment and drug prescription

The best case is to bring the designated forms anytime you go outside Japan.
But in my case, I didn't bring any documents to the country, actually I didn't know the system, but the doctor kindly arranged the documents in English. Then I translated them in accord with the insurance policy as instructed by the city office staff and submitted them to the municipal office.

The 70% refund is calcurated on the standard medical practices in Japan.
So at inexpensive treatment countries, you can expect similar refund like in Japan, but in the US, the best treatment as well as expensive... I don't know.

I don't know how much you paid and will be refunded for the immediate case, but at first it is good to go to your municipal office for kaigai ryoyo hi system, ﾅ?Cﾅ?O窶氾??倍窶敕ｯﾂ青ｧ窶忸.

 

[GaijinPunch]

In this case, you may have right to claim the refund like I did.
You need to translate some documents such as...

Cool, I will definitely look into this when I'm not so lazy. Will save me about $700 in a best case scenario. The whole trip to the ER is about $1000. FYI, I'm on kokumin houken.

I'll head to the kuyakusho next week and bend their ears a bit.

I'm still curious about the long term stuff. I know we have members here that are older than I, and statistically your body is more prone to break down then. Don't men start getting violated yearly in the name of a prostate check?