Hi guys,
I have joined a Japanese company two months ago. I am still asking them for my wife’s health insurance card and they are just saying you’ll get it soon. Sometimes they don’t know whether they have applied or not, sometimes they would say we have applies but heath insurance office is delaying everything and bla bla. This is my 3rd job in Japan and I have never seen anything like this. I am also working from home, as a result I have to communicate via email. My wife has thyroid conditions and I have been paying 100% fees of her treatment for past two months (of course I have the receipts but I am getting broke).
What are my other options? Can I just get the card by going to ward office?
Thanks!
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The ward office knows about national health insurance, which is not what you want, yeah? So I suppose you’re stuck with your company.
Standard advice is to use email. Sometimes they CYA and do their job.
Shakai hoken, or national?
Strange hmm. Mine was provided as soon as I mentioned them about my wife coming to japan in dependent visa.
Make sure to constantly remind them like every monday or Tuesday like via email.
Why not get the national health insurance for the moment, it’s not super expensive and could save you a lot of trouble.
Can you arrange a phone call with your HR people? Just using a higher bandwidth communication channel Osteen nudges things forward.
Alternatively, you have your own card, right? If you have the info for the insurance company and policy and stuff that way, maybe reach out to the insurance company and see if they’ll tell you anything.
Skip face to face meetings, don’t do phone calls… send emails with people in HR in positions of authority on the to: line and then your direct supervisor on the cc: line, explaining the timeline and who you’ve asked and your current confusion as to what the status of your wife’s coverage is. Do it respectfully and use neutral language (no blame or accusations of sloth or misinformation). Emails get a time/date stamp and is proof of who you told and when.
HR is there to protect the company from problems (not to protect employees) and someone with authority may recognize that this is a clear issue that can cost the company money if someone screwed up, company-side (might not be an issue – but HR is always risk averse).
Source: Dealt with (and often frustrated by) HR and performed HR-adjacent functions in Japan for many years.