Health Care Experience in Korea and the U.S.

In July 2007 I fractured my foot in the U.S., and got almost everything covered by the insurance I had except for co-payment which was $25 each time I saw a doctor. I was lucky to have health insurance which had just taken effect. When I talked about my injury, my mom told me for the first time about “my” life insurance which she had been putting money into for me and that it might give me money for the injury. She looked through a booklet of coverage, and found out that I was eligible for $300 of compensation. I faxed the orthopedics' diagnosis and got my money sent to my Korean bank account.

My orthodontist in the U.S. recommended me to have my wisdom teeth removed. I could have paid a couple hundred dollars if I had done it here because my dental insurance only covered 60% or 90% of the cost. I decided to have it done in Korea, and it cost me less than $20 because it was covered by health insurance. The service I got wasn’t supposed to be covered by the insurance, though, because my wisdom teeth weren’t hurting me. According to them, it was more of an aesthetic procedure. But since the physician I visited was my brother’s orthodontist and my brother had brought him so much business by recommending him to friends, he was being nice to me.

This past spring when I visited him again for cavities between my front teeth, the dentist had to use “resin” to fill in which is the same color as natural teeth and expensive! Even though my cavity treatment was “necessary,” resin was not covered by the insurance because it is an aesthetic material. But I couldn’t use silver amalgam for my front teeth, could I? I paid $200 this time. I think it could’ve cost less in the U.S. with dental insurance, actually I could have paid nothing for it with the dental insurance I used to have.