Health insurance mandatory for long-stay foreigners in Thailand

[flynn]

Will this include extensions of stay ?

[eddysmit]

4 minutes ago, Brickbat said:

No vagueness about this , as many claim. It’s pay up or ship out. Bye Bye farangs. This is the end of the road for Thailand as a cheap retirement destination. 

And I don’t blame them. It’s clear as hell. Cheap farangs don’t pay their hospital bills. So stop complaining! 

Sounds like you have received medical treatment and not paid, for the many times I have visited hospitals,clinics I have always paid my bill, for one operation it was even lower than the estimate they gave me before my operation, I did get an operation some years ago before payment,but my Thai lady signed a piece of paper as guarantor, for the last one they asked for a deposit plus a Thai guarantor, and I find it difficult to understand what foreigners get treatment for free, even Thais pay, their 'ten Bhat card' only gets limited treatment, and that is not for foreigners to use.

[david555]

5 minutes ago, stanleycoin said:

For every  1 falang that has to go, at the minimum 2 Thais will loose there income.

Thailand is just stealing money for it's own people in the log run.

Big own goal i would say, but as we all know Thailand's rich and powerful care not about there citizens.

They can expect in later stage big problem for themselves   from North-East Thais as they are in first line to miss a serious income ….a full bucket finally floods over 

[Mister Fixit]

1 minute ago, giddyup said:

He makes himself look like a prized chump. needs no help from me.

Stop looking in the mirror if you don't want to see a chump.

  

[carstenp]

1 minute ago, flynn said:

Will this include extensions of stay ?

As my understanding of the article yes , because Permits to stay is a extension. I can read it wrong

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 minutes ago, randy723 said:

how much would it cost a person with a retirement visa for insurance that is 76 years old? does anyone know? Please reply to me if you know. Thank you

 

You need to do one of two things:

1. Contact a local health insurance broker here whom you can give your personal details to, and they can give you some different policy options and corresponding quotes on their prices. AA Insurance Brokers here seems to get good reviews from their customers. There also are others.

 

2. Go to the Longstay website mentioned in the OP article in this thread, and use that site to pursue some policy options and quotes on your own with the various insurers.

 

AFAIK, the number of insurers here who will write a new policy for someone who is 76 is going to be pretty small, so that ought to be the first thing you ask... Do you write new coverage for someone who is 76?

 

Actually, there is also a #3 option. Wait and see what if any scheme the Thais cook up to allow people who can't obtain local health insurance by buy out of the requirement by having added funds on deposit somewhere... But when or if they'll actually put such a system into effect remains an open question. It's mentioned in the articles as a possibility, but not something they've actually decided as yet to implement.

 

[Mister Fixit]

I'm on a retirement visa based on an extension of stay on my visa 'B'.  

 

So that means this doesn't affect me or others like me?

[david555]

4 minutes ago, flynn said:

Will this include extensions of stay ?

It is clear language , even I don't like to read it so .

A ret ext. is a permit to stay ….or not ? Any I.O. would read it so ….

 

Besides in short time it would be added to the needed doc. to become your extension and published , all is new for now , just give them time to clear up in Immigration police letter # x and so

 

[KhunFred]

The worst possible news. They won't accept Medicare. The final solution for cleansing Thailand of all but wealthy farangs. Cambodia and Vietnam should thank the Thai government.

[connda]

That's the end.  I'm so pissed I'm shaking.  Build a life in Thailand then forced to purchase an insurance policy where the premium cost 1/4 of the maximum payout of the policy, and goes up in magnitudes if you should use it or simply cancelled if you use it.  I have health insurance but no out-patient because you don't need out-patient coverage here.  So instead you end up having to buy a policy where you essentially pay the equivalent of 40k THB in premiums to cover the 40k THB payout which you don't need.  Then if you use it, they up you're premiums.

Dear Thai government - thanks for breaking up families you racist xenophobes.  

 

I've 3 years until I hit 70, during that time I'll be executing plan B.  All the retirement money I've sunk into Thailand for my wife, family, and my future - F*******!!!!!  I pity my wife.  They have just screw her as well as me.  The money I have was to support her in her old age if I pass away as well as to support our future retirement.  Now?  The money has to come with me to start over again in a country which is supportive of expats wishing to stay long-term.  The country I'm considering even allows expats to buy into their country's public health system as a reasonable cost.  Thailand could do that, but these racists want us out - and out we will go.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 minutes ago, RBOP said:

Can't get it. 76 over the limit. You have to lock in another 440K on top of the 800K.

 

1. I believe, there are a few insurance options available for folks that age as new coverage....

 

2. The "buy out" of the new rule notion is just something mentioned as a possibility in the articles, not something the MOPH / Immigration, etc have decided to implement.

 

 

 

[Lenny Jones]

Bushfires, bullshit and panic everywhere so far in 39 odd pages of posts.
 A Thai minister has made a vague, unworkable statement based on bias and ignorance.

My FIRST question is - just how much do resident aliens cost the Thai government in medical expenses.  My guess is - bugger-all. You go into hospital here and get held to ransom unless you pay.  I have YET to see an instance (except for the "Phoenix" disaster) where the Thai guvmint has bailed out an alien.

 

That alone kills the minister's justification for his insurance scheme.

 

My NEXT question:  Just how many aliens are retired in Thailand?  Think about all those 800k baht deposits being used by Thai banking - Then think about all those 65k baht/month incomes flowing into the country.  I - alone - am worth over 1 million baht/year to this economy.  How many more are like me?

 

I think this Minister should do some sums.

 

I also think this minister's thinking is being "steered" by insurance companies - with the predicted results to suit him - - - - Nothing new about that hey!

[Kerryd]

11 minutes ago, Dario said:

I forgot to mention: the BBL proposal for 21'000 Baht/year notes 20'000 Baht OP per visit. That doesn't say 40'000 Baht per year. And then: may we ask your age? I'm past 73 right now. Can you elaborate, please?

That 20,000 per visit is relating to additional treatment required due to an accident (i.e. if you tear your stitches or your cast falls off or you suddenly start bleeding out your ears).

Note that it says "within 72 hours" of an accident as well.

The "Plan 4" variant includes up to 30 Outpatient visits per year, to a maximum of 1,500 baht per visit (which works out to 45,000 per year for OPD).

 

Unfortunately, according to their site, they won't insure anyone after age 59 (but will continue to insure current clients until they are 69 it seems).

[metisdead]

Troll posts and replies have been removed. 

 

Inflammatory posts and replies have been removed. 

[Psimbo]

Not sure why they want 40k OPD as well. A lot of local policies allow one to opt out of this. I prefer to pay my own way for routine stuff. They will bill the insurance company at least double what I pay across the desk at present. 

 

A lot of panic and second guessing going on as usual - best to wait a few weeks for the dust to settle and clarification to emerge,

 

I wait with bated breath for the first 'Thousands of foreigners leave due to lack of insurance- will this kill residence in Thailand' thread. ????

[Headgame]

5 minutes ago, carstenp said:

http://www.bangkokinsurance.com/long-stay-visa/

 

Thanks for posting the BKK Bank fee and coverage chart.
Glad now that I am along time customer with Baht in the bank
I'm turning 75 in June but will apply now for this coverage.
Not a bad deal at all.

[Sheryl]

47 minutes ago, AAArdvark said:

But most of them, no all but most, have renewal only clauses. So if someone didn't already have a policy earlier in life they can't get it now.

 

 the up to 100 years he referred to is for new policies.

 

Age per se does not preclude getting good expat insurance.

 

The real constraint is that many people in the older age groups have pre-existing conditions that limit their options or even make them uninsurable, or insurable only with far reaching exclusions.

 

It also costs more the older you are, that's true whether getting a new policy or renewing an existing one.

[eddysmit]

14 minutes ago, Eligius said:

This is all part of the Giant Lie that is present-day Thailand.

As if 'foreigners' are bleeding the hospitals of this country dry. What a load of baloney. 

Compared with the huge, massive, ENORMOUS amount of corruption and larceny on the side of certain oligarchical tranches of Thai society - who are robbing the Thai people blind, day in, day out - the few unpaid bills by a few foreigners in Thailand is a drop in the ocean.

 

This is all about squeezing yet more money out of foreigners  - or kicking them out of Thailand altogether.

Do people not understand what extreme nationalism leads to? Thai ultra-nationalists are no lovers of the West or its peoples  - only their money. Without that, the strident cry is ' get the hell out of here' (never mind that you have worked here for decades and have a Thai family) ...

 

Good post, and sums up the way the top Thais are going, funny how it has really begun to bite in the last few years.

[david555]

4 minutes ago, Mister Fixit said:

I'm on a retirement visa based on an extension of stay on my visa 'B'.  

 

So that means this doesn't affect me or others like me?

is it not a permit to stay too ??

[randy723]

4 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

You need to do one of two things:

1. Contact a local health insurance broker here whom you can give your personal details to, and they can give you some different policy options and corresponding quotes on their prices. AA Insurance Brokers here seems to get good reviews from their customers. There also are others.

 

2. Go to the Longstay website mentioned in the OP article in this thread, and use that site to pursue some policy options and quotes on your own with the various insurers.

 

AFAIK, the number of insurers here who will write a new policy for someone who is 76 is going to be pretty small, so that ought to be the first thing you ask... Do you write new coverage for someone who is 76?

 

Actually, there is also a #3 option. Wait and see what if any scheme the Thais cook up to allow people who can't obtain local health insurance by buy out of the requirement by having added funds on deposit somewhere... But when or if they'll actually put such a system into effect remains an open question. It's mentioned in the articles as a possibility, but not something they've actually decided as yet to implement.

 

OK thank you very much for the info

[johnarth]

is someone from Thai visa going to hit the TV stations with this we need clarification as soon as possible and the TV stations seem best at that me and my Thai wife are just getting a house built and at the stage where we need to make a very big payment this is going to wreck both our lives if I have to return to Australia

[ujayujay]

If there is no change in getting affordable health insurance in Thailand, there will be a massive exodus of expats. Including me.

[ThaiBunny]

At my age it would be cheaper to buy Thailand Elite than pay a couple of years of premiums.  Since this is only O-A at the moment I'm guess those married to a Thai ("O") are so far exempt

[Sheryl]

10 minutes ago, RBOP said:

Can't get it. 76 over the limit. You have to lock in another 440K on top of the 800K.

Not at all true. Some policies yes but certainly not all. There are several that will newly insure above that age.

[shaurene]

8 hours ago, gunderhill said:

More vagueness.

Wow, get insured with the relevant insurance companies and pay more.

this so wise minister is obviously in line for the next Nobel Prize. The first for Thailand. 

I am 77. Had triple bypass, heart attack, 3 stents put in.  Got COPD, EMPHYSEMA. Been here 10 yrs married.  I pay for private hospital every time. I would never go to a public hospital. For reasons. 

I have tried so many times contacting so many insurance companies around the world. But none have agreed to cover me.

And Thailand are classed one of the most expensive countries in the world, by the insurance companies' so somewhere in the government needs to be looked at.

[Jingthing]

At my age it would be cheaper to buy Thailand Elite than pay a couple of years of premiums.  Since this is only O-A at the moment I'm guess those married to a Thai ("O") are so far exempt

For all we know over 50s using Elite may have the requirement too. Remember they can change the rules at any time.

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[joevanwyck]

5 hours ago, Mango Bob said:

Any other American Retired Military here with Tricare for Life?  What do you think about this?  We have better covers than what needed here but it not 400,000/40,000.  I pay 25% of the cost both outpatient and inpatient up to a max of $3,000 a year.  I go to an international hospital for all my care.  I also have a letter from Tricare saying I am covered and the Federal Tax for that is required stating I have health insurance.  I like to know what others who have this think?

I am on Tricare also. May just have to wait for more detailed requirements from Thai Imm.

[Peterw42]

43 minutes ago, JDGRUEN said:

I reiterate my comment... the only reason that the O-A was mentioned is that it is a Visa ... Other Long Stays are Extensions based on an original short term 90 day visa (O visa usually).. There is no common sense limiting factor in this news article when uninformed lawmakers are quoted where they zero in on a "Retirement" Visa (O-A) because they are totally unaware that the vast majority of Long Stay Retirement "Visas" are actually Extensions of Stay - One Year.  If and when Immigration draws up the actual police order you can bet good money it will apply to all Visas (O-A, O-X) and all O Extensions of Stay for age 50 and over. 

O-X already has compulsory insurance and when it was announced nobody presumed the the insurance applied to other extensions etc. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 minutes ago, Headgame said:

Thanks for posting the BKK Bank fee and coverage chart.
Glad now that I am along time customer with Baht in the bank
I'm turning 75 in June but will apply now for this coverage.
Not a bad deal at all.

 

I'm not sure Bangkok Insurance is any relation to Bangkok Bank. I think they're a separate company....

[Sheryl]

11 minutes ago, flynn said:

Will this include extensions of stay ?

 

Still unclear if that means all extensions to stay or only extensions under an O-A visa.

 

And this being Thailand the issue is not just what they meant but, given unclear wording, what various IOs all over the country will think it means. And what they will require by way of proof from tho use of use with international policies written in English.