Health Insurance for non-JETs

Submitted by SubarashiiAnnie on Fri, 2010/07/09 - 15:46.

Hey yo. My brohan's moving to Gunma in a month and apparently you can't get National Health Insurance through the city until you have your gaijin card.

He's American and I was wondering what other non-JETs do in this situation. Does anyone know of some great travel insurance that works in Japan?

Any tips would be a HUGE help!

Thanks a bunch,
annie

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If he's moving here, he's

Submitted by srothroc on Sun, 2010/07/11 - 20:29.

If he's moving here, he's going to have to get an alien registration card anyway, so might as well wait for the health insurance. It shouldn't take terribly long to get the card.

If you're worried about something happening in the interim, his usual health insurance company in America probably has some kind of traveler's insurance that can cover him until he gets the card and can get the national insurance plan.

Just to clarify, to be able

Submitted by Megs28 on Tue, 2010/07/13 - 17:21.

Just to clarify, to be able to enrol in NHI, you have to have a status of residence (visa) valid for one year or more. Once you have that, it's just a matter of going to the appropriate desk at the city hall where you have alien registration.

world nomads

Submitted by yllwsmrf on Fri, 2010/07/30 - 09:21.

I usually purchase travel insurance through World Nomads, which is easy, cheap, and recommended by Lonely Planet. Then again, I've never had to make a claim, so I can't commnet on how good their coverage really is. I'm wondering though, that travel insurance may not cover your brother in his situation if he's entering Japan on a work visa. Travel insurance usually doesn't apply outside your country of residence and they may consider Japan his residence. I'd email or call them first for clarification.

http://www.worldnomads.com/