By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

A booklet containing information about South Korea's national health insurance scheme for foreigners was released in Korean and several foreign languages Friday.

About 1.1 million foreigners live in Korea and only about 2 percent are subscribing to the state-sponsored insurance policy.

Since 2006, all paid foreign workers have been obligated to subscribe to it and self-employed people who have stayed here fore more than three months can join by visiting local corporation offices or logging onto its Web site at www.nhic.or.kr. The agency pays half the premium.

Policyholders pay only 20 percent of medical fees involving surgery and 30 to 50 percent of outpatient treatment fees. Also, subsidies for childbirth, health check-ups and other medical procedures are provided.

The books are published in Korean, Chinese, English, Indonesian, Japanese, Mongolian, Russian, Thai and Vietnamese.

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr