Healthcare in South Korea

Since it's our last week in Korea, I've been going through all bills and receipts that I've collected the past two years.  Yes, I am "one of those people" - I save bills for at least one year.  While going through everything, I came across all of our medical receipts.  In the past two years, we've (I, really) managed to rack up quite a few!

You might think, "So what?  Big deal!"  You're right.  If I were back home, there is no way I would share this information with you.  However, I want to share with you just how awesome the Korean healthcare system is.

As you can see in the picture, one or both of us went to a doctor or the hospital at least 25 times.  When I calculated the total cost, it only came up to 1,607,380 Won (~$1,600.00).  I added in 200,000 Won for the various health checks we were required to get and 300,000 Won for Zach's wisdom teeth removal.  That's a total of 2,100,000 Won (~$2,000.00).

What's more impressive is what the costs included:

• a trip (or two) to the E.R.
• 10 sessions of laser hair removal
• a tubal ligation where I had to spend the night in the hospital 
• a vasectomy
• and countless infections

What's not included is the medication.  However, each time we got medicine, the average cost was about 5,000 Won.

I guess the moral of the story is that if you're going to get sick, the best place to do it is probably South Korea!

Birthdays in Korea

In honor of Zach's 28th birthday tomorrow (June 21st), I thought I would write about birthdays in Korea.  Zach's international age will be 28 tomorrow, but he has been 29 in Korea since the new year (depending on who you talk to, that could be Jan 1st or the Lunar New Year).  Confusing, huh?!  Don't worry, this whole birthday thing always confuses the heck out of me!  Basically, here is how you calculate Korean birthdays, I think....haha!

When you are born, you are considered to be one year old.  When the new year rolls around, you will turn 2 years old.  So technically, a baby born on Dec. 31st could be 2 years old on January 1st.  But like I said above, which new year you use to "get older" depends on who you talk to.  Some use the Gregorian or "Western" calendar and some use the Lunar calendar to "get older", which adds to the confusion.

I guess the easiest way to to calculate your Korean age is to take the current year (2014) and subtract the year you were born (1986) = 28.  If you haven't already had your birthday, add 2 years.  If you've already had your birthday, just add 1 year.  Zach is currently 27 years old, so he should add 2 years.  After his birthday he will be 28, so he will add 1 year.

If this is still confusing, just tell someone what year you were born in when they ask you how old you are.

To help me honor Zach's birthday, I would love it if you could send him a birthday message by posting in the comments section below!  He would love to hear from you!