Alien Adventures, Part 2: I Can Has National Health Insurance!

We've done it: we've got health insurance!

Not that it was unaffordable without it (less than $20 for a visit and less than $10 for prescription antibiotics), but we are glad to have it now. It will definitely make upcoming vaccines more affordable, and also regular visits should be a fraction of what we've paid before.

This was quite a process, however. Here is how you register your F3 dependents with National Health Insurance in Korea:

Step 1: Visit the National Health Insurance (NHIC) website and find your gu's local NHIC office.

Step 2: If you need directions to your local gu office, the NHIC website also has the number for a call center where you can speak with an NHIC representative in English. That number is 02)390-2000.

Step 3: Once you have directions for your local gu office, prepare all the documents you'll need to get your dependants registered. Everyone needs to have their Alien Registration Cards (ARCs) and passports. Also, you need documents that prove your relationship to your dependents, such as marriage and birth certificates. Also bring the English Call Center number with you because you might need it to communicate with the office staff if you do not speak Korean.

Step 4: Show up at your local gu office, take a number and wait. There will be forms out that other people will be filling out, but if you can't decipher that level of Korean and nobody in the office speaks English (as was the case with us in Yangcheon-gu), just wait. You will have to communicate with the clerks via the English Call Center.

Step 5: Upon the request of the clerks, present your documents and wait. They might communicate with you via call center or they might just figure it out. Whatever the case, you should in the end be presented with a small paper booklet with your names written in Hangeul. We received one booklet for all three of us.

I found the people at the call center to be particularly helpful, so if you're ever in a bind with this, I'd call that number straight away. This whole process was something I knew little about to begin with and couldn't find any information about on the net (with a lazy amount of searching, to be honest), so I hope you find this useful!