Topic: Japanese Health Insurance and visas- Idioms

I met with my friend yesterday. She seemed really down, but I couldn't put my finger on why.
"Are you feeling ok?" I asked.
"Actually I'm not feeling so great. Today I found out that I have to be enrolled in a government approved health insurance policy".
"What's so bad about that? I said.
"Two things, my company told me that I didn't need Japanese Health Insurance, but that wasn’t true."
"In fact, my company was supposed to pay 50% of my monthly installment costs."
"Secondly, I am required to back pay 2 year's worth of insurance from the date that I enrol. I've had private health insurance with InterGlobal the whole time, so I will be paying for 2 policies that I’ve never used!!! "
"You're kidding, aren't you?" I asked.
"No I'm not. I'm dead serious."

Try and answer these questions!
1 Is the girl happy?
2 What does she seemed down mean?
3 At the start of the conversation, did the man know what was wrong with the girl?
4 What does I couldn’t put my finger on it mean?
5 What does dead serious mean?

As of April 2010, all foreign residents in Japan will be required to have insurance in a Government approved insurance policy. At the moment, there are 2 main policies that you can be enrolled in. National Health Insurance (NHI) and Shakai Hoken. Many people will only be eligible for the NHI. Once enrolled in NHI, like in the story above, the people will be required to back pay to the time when they first entered Japan. The back pay period is supposedly limited to 2 years.
The estimated pay back amount could be as much as 720,000yen.
Foreigners who are not enrolled in a government approved insurance scheme will not be able to renew their visas after April 2010.

Please use the information above as a guide only. The information is believed to be accurate, but not all the details have been confirmed yet.
If you want to read more about this, please click on this link > changes in Japanese Health Insurance and visa renewal policy 2010.

The below answers are from サンフラワー

Thanks サンフラワー!!!!!!!!!!

They are my answers!

1 She wasn't happy because she'll have to pay for 2 policies that she has never used.

2 She seemed down means that she is dipressed or disappointed.

3 4 At the start of the conversation, he didn't know why she was disappointed so, he didn't push her to tell waht was wrong with her, which means he coudn't put his finger on why.

5 dead serious means that she is extreamely serious or nervous.

I didn't know the fact that insurance system for foreighers is going to change.
Thank you for giving me that kind of infomation to me.
And also, I want to use the idioms that you taught in my daiy conversation with native speakers. It'll help a lot. Thank you!!クローバー

Talk to you later.
サンフラワー

Actually, I think the insurance policy as a whole hasn't changed much, the visa policy is the one that changed

The insurance problem that we see now is largely caused by the fact that many teachers in Japan were told that they weren't eligible or didn't need government approved health insurance.
This can be largely attributed to the English schools that hire the teachers. Most English schools don't want to pay insurance on behalf of their employees. To avoid footing the bill for the insurance, they made use of loop holes in the insurance policy, so that they were not required to enroll their employees.
To make things worse, many English companies told their teachers that they weren't eligible for kokumin kenko hoken (national health insurance) or shakai hoken (social insurance). As a small benefit, some teachers in Japan were given 'free' health insurance from their companies. A lot of teachers don't settle for this though as the amount of coverage given is sometimes seen as not adequate. As a result many teachers in Japan end up purchasing their own private health insurance.

I have worked for 3 different English companies over the past ~6 years in Japan. I was never once enrolled in a government approved insurance policy! In fact, I wasn't aware of it until recently.

I don't think many foreigners are opposed to paying into this insurance. I think it is the threat of back pay that has prevented many from joining, that and the fact that until now, many teachers didn't know they were supposed to be enrolled.

It looks like the English industry has a rough road ahead of it.

If you are interested, you can read more about this issue here >Avoiding Japanese Health Insurance

For information on Health Insurance go here >>Health Insurance in Japan

Other related discussions >> Visa renewal and National Health Insurance
Please use the information above as a guide only. The information is believed to be accurate, but not all the details have been confirmed.

What does the following expression mean?

The English industry has a rough road ahead of it.

It looks like the planned changes have been revoked (but maybe only temporarily).

Link here private insurance sufficient? Japan