Hagwon health insurance on paper vs. health insurance that actually works
Your hagwon pays into the National Health Insurance scheme, but the card they give you covers 60% at most clinics and nothing at all at some. Here's what the gap costs and how teachers fill it.
Park English · 2026-08-27 · 4 min read
The E-2 contract says the school pays half your health insurance. That part is true — they do. What it doesn't say is that the National Health Insurance card covers far less than most native English speakers expect, and that the first time you need it you will be surprised by the bill.
We've seen this exact sequence fifty times. Teacher gets a throat infection in week three, walks into a clinic near the hagwon, hands over the card, gets antibiotics and a week of anti-inflammatories, pays ₩18,000 at the counter. Asks us later if that was right. It was. The card covered the rest, but "the rest" was still ₩27,000, and the total was ₩45,000 because Korean health insurance doesn't work like the systems most of our teachers grew up with.
What the card actually covers
National Health Insurance in Korea is real insurance, administered by a single government body, and it works. But it is not free-at-point-of-use care. Most clinics bill you a co-pay of 30–60% depending on what they did, and you pay that in cash or card before you leave. The insurance pays the rest directly to the clinic.
The gap is smallest for basic consultations and generic prescriptions. A GP visit for a cold usually runs ₩5,000–₩15,000 out of pocket. It gets wider fast for anything involving scans, dental work, or dermatology that the system codes as cosmetic.
Some things are not covered at all:
- Most dental work beyond fillings and extractions
- Glasses and contact lenses, including the exam
- Prescriptions the formulary considers optional (some contraceptives, sleep aids, newer migraine drugs)
- Anything done at a clinic that has chosen to operate outside the insurance scheme — you can tell because they will not ask for your card
What teachers actually do
About two-thirds of the foreign teachers we work with buy a private supplement within the first four months. The policies are cheap — ₩30,000–₩80,000 a year — and they close most of the gap the national card leaves. Some cover dental up to a cap, some cover glasses, nearly all of them cover the co-pay if you're admitted to hospital.
You buy them from Korean insurers, in English, online. DB Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine both sell them. A few teachers skip it and self-insure, which works fine if you are 26 and need a doctor twice a year.
The number your hagwon pays
Here is what comes out of your paycheque and what the school matches, as of 2024:
| Monthly salary | Your half (deducted) | School's half | Total to NHIS |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₩2,000,000 | ₩69,560 | ₩69,560 | ₩139,120 |
| ₩2,200,000 | ₩76,516 | ₩76,516 | ₩153,032 |
| ₩2,400,000 | ₩83,472 | ₩83,472 | ₩166,944 |
| ₩2,500,000 | ₩86,950 | ₩86,950 | ₩173,900 |
The percentage is 6.99% of salary as of this year, split exactly in half. It goes up slightly most years. Long-term care insurance is bundled in — that is the extra ₩8,000 or so you will see if you reverse-engineer the percentage.
The question nobody asks until it matters
If you leave mid-contract, or if the hagwon closes, you are still covered until the end of the month they last paid for. After that the insurance stops unless you pay both halves yourself. We have seen teachers in limbo between jobs discover this when a walk-in clinic asks for ₩140,000 because the card bounced.
If you are staying in Korea and switching to a new E-2 sponsor, the gap is usually short enough that you can either pay out of pocket or pay one month of premiums yourself to keep it live. The form to do that is on the NHIS English website, but most teachers just let it lapse and eat the risk for two weeks.
The insurance obligation also applies if you are on an F-visa and freelancing. You are required to register and pay the full premium yourself — both halves — and the bill is not small.
What we tell teachers on the phone at 9pm
The private supplement is worth it if any of these apply: you wear glasses, you have any ongoing prescription, you have ever needed a dentist, you do winter sports. It is probably not worth it if you are 24, have good teeth, and got through university without seeing a doctor.
But the decision is cheaper than one uninsured root canal, so most people just buy it.