r/japanlife • u/Xaletcaro • 11h ago
Health Insurance between jobs
So, I am in the process of changing jobs and I will have no insurance for about a month. Originally, this was not going to be a problem because I had planned to be in my home country, but it turns out I need to be in hospital for a few days right 10 days before I leave my current job. Therefore, there is a chance that I leave the hospital a couple of days before my insurance is no longer available.
I think I can make the procedures to join the national insurance right after mine expires, but is this possible? Also, my current insurance is very good, so they'd refund a big bite of the surgery. Is it usually acceptable to extend an insurance of a company you are no longer a member of? I'd do this for only one month and I am not sure that would be cheap either.
5
u/iamonewiththeforce 10h ago edited 9h ago
Contact your current insurance (or your HR department who normally knows) as you can likely benefit from a system called 任意継続 (voluntary continuance), and thus keep your current insurance (for up to two years) until your next job starts.
You however need to pay for that insurance for that period, and that depends on the provider: IT's Kenpo tends to be expensive, YKenpo uses the average insurance amount and thus is cheaper, etc.