Interac Work Life

Has anyone ever worked for an ALT dispatch company called Interac?

What are their rental cars like? Is it easy paying private health insurance rather than the full national insurance? Interac plays a trick so that you don't qualify for the subsidized national health insurance, so that's not an option.

Rental car?

You must mean they don't have its own "corporate" health insurance scheme; if they don't provide their corporate health insurance, you MUST sign up for the "national" health insurance scheme.

That's it. I heard there are 3 ways to get health insurance - subsidized national insurance (the company pays half), nonsubsidized (you pay it all if you work 29.5 hours or less per week), and private.

I've heard of people being on Interac's private insurance, then being asked to pay hundreds of thousands of yen in back payments for not paying into the national insurance. I'm wondering if Interac employees can elect to pay into the national scheme.

Well, you need to establish with them upfront whether they are enrolling you in their own scheme, or you are supposed to enroll in the national health insurance scheme (I see only 2 options for Japan actually).

They say that they put everyone with a private insurance scheme that they partner with. I can't contact them to ask if this private insurance is mandatory.

It's either "shakai hoken" (social insurance scheme, where the employer and the employee contribute to) or "kokumin kenko hoken" (national health insurance scheme, where independent business owners or employees who don't work the min. number of hours per week to be eligible for social scheme of the company enrol).

So I don't know what they mean they have a private scheme with someone they "partner with." Maybe because they are a dispatch company (you don't work AT Interac) they have a different set-up?

I don't know the name, but it requires that claimants pay any medical fees upfront, then file for reimbursement from the insurance company.

Oh, then that is a completely private one! You should opt for the national health insurance, which is mandatory as long as you live and work in Japan over 3 or 6 months (I forgot the exact definition).

I'm not working for Interac, but this insurance thing is something I was thinking about.

The way you wrote about the two choices, it seems as if those are the only two completely legal ways to be insured? That would explain why some people got penalized for not paying for those, even though they were insured privately.

Yes, those are the only two legit choices. Those on national health insurance pay 30% of the medical fees at the time of hospital/clinic visit, and those on social scheme pay (I believe) 20%. The rest is borne by the schemes. So the ones you pay upfront to get reimbursed later are just like the short-term overseas travel insurance policy you purchase when you travel overseas on vacation.

Probably those who were on the "private" ones thought that private one was sufficient (or were led to believe so).

And by the way, what was the thing about rental cars? They don't provide any, do they?

They have at least a few positions where driving a car is required. In these cases, they supply employees with a rental car. Whether Interac owns these cars or rents them themselves from a rental company, I don't know.

Oh, I see. That must depend on the locations then. In either case, what you need to watch out is whether you are properly insured :)

Here Interac talks about their health insurance scheme:
http://www.interacnetwork.com/recruit/galtjobs/gsalarytaxesandinsuranc...

So you will be enrolled in either the National Health Insurance or Social Insurance, though I don't understand why they say the premium is more for the latter :( But "additional health insurance" explains the private one, and apparently you don't have to sign up for it.

Note about driving: since international driving permit is valid for one year, I guess this assumes people with Japanese driving license, or UK and any other license that can easily be converted into Japanese one (or the contract for that location will be max. one year).

Thank you for the link.

Could be with the license thing, but I know they recruit heavily in some countries that don't have easily convertible licenses. I think that they're expected to drive too. Not sure what they do when the international license expires, since they'll have to take the test to continue driving in Japan.

Interac have some kind of agreement with AAS Car Rental (based in Tochigi).

You will be provided with a rental car should you find yourself in a driving-position. At one time, this was usually a Suzuki Wagon R (of variable age), but Nissan DAZE have also started making an appearance.

(I heard of one or two people winding up with a Suzuki Lapin, but these are pretty uncommon.)

The cost of renting a car via Interac/AAS is around \‎30,000 plus \‎5,000 optional insurance (which you absolutely need).

Interac will deduct the \‎35,000 from your monthly salary. You will not be allowed to claim travel expenses (e.g. fuel costs), as Interac will claim that this is included in whatever "location allowance" you are granted.

In addition, you will likely receive a "plus one" (of around \‎10,000) and a "plus two" (of around \‎1,000) allowance, depending on where you live, to offset the rental cost.

\‎35,000 a month is ridiculously expensive considering that you have nothing to show for it once you leave Interac, so I would recommend getting your own private car ASAP if you can afford it.

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In regards to health insurance, Interac use the "29.5 Hour Contract" lie to keep their non-haken rodosha employees out of shakai hoken (Employee Health Insurance + Pension) without the Japanese Pension Service coming after them for breaking the law.

In a nutshell, shakai hoken likely won't be an option (but don't buy into their lie about how not being enroled in shakai hoken is actually beneficial for you).

You're not likely to get shakai hoken enrolment with any dispatch company, either, so... make of that what you will.

That leaves two options: Interac's InterGlobal Health Care, or Kokumin Kenko Hoken (National Health Insurance).

You are required by law to enrol yourself in Kokumin Kenko Hoken. You need to do this at your local ward office. Interac will not do it for you.

DO NOT sign up for Interac's private health care. If you sign up for Interac's health care, you STILL NEED TO enrol in Kokumin Kenko Hoken, too.

Interac like to suggest that if you sign up for Interac InterGlobal coverage, you don't necessarily need to sign up for Kokumin Hoken. This is so that people don't ask them about shakai hoken.

However, even Interac's InterGlobal documents say that you need to ALSO enrol in Kokumin Hoken.

Pension is separate from Kokumin Hoken, so you need to pay that separately.

I hope this information is helpful.