Poll: By this time next year, do you think the health insurance requirement for O-A will migrate to other visa types?

[billsmart]

Just now, Jingthing said:

You not only could be wrong but you ARE wrong. 

Maybe bone up on current events before criticizing polls based on false assumptions.

Jhingthing, No one I know who have come here on a long-stay visa has been asked about health insurance when applying for their one-year extension, and that includes at least 10 people in the last couple months.

I last entered Thailand on an O-A Long-stay in 2003. I have received one-year extensions every year since -- some based on marriage and some retirement. My last extension was based on retirement. My current one-year extension expires in December, and I don't expect to have to show any health insurance to get my extension.

I'm sorry if my remarks about your survey upset you. I just thought some of the questions you asked were trying to compare future outcomes with a false equivalency.

To make myself more clear, I do think the health insurance requirement might be extended to other visa types, but not to the extensions of those who came here on some kind of long-stay visa. I think that's what the monthly pension deposits or money-in-the-bank requirements are for.

 

 

 

[Jingthing]

8 minutes ago, billsmart said:

Jhingthing, No one I know who have come here on a long-stay visa has been asked about health insurance when applying for their one-year extension, and that includes at least 10 people in the last couple months.

I last entered Thailand on an O-A Long-stay in 2003. I have received one-year extensions every year since -- some based on marriage and some retirement. My last extension was based on retirement. My current one-year extension expires in December, and I don't expect to have to show any health insurance to get my extension.

I'm sorry if my remarks about your survey upset you. I just thought some of the questions you asked were trying to compare future outcomes with a false equivalency.

To make myself more clear, I do think the health insurance requirement might be extended to other visa types, but not to the extensions of those who came here on some kind of long-stay visa. I think that's what the monthly pension deposits or money-in-the-bank requirements are for.

 

 

 

OMG!

The O-A health insurance requirement didn't come into effect until last week!

Your comments previous to that are irrelevant.

 

Edited November 7, 2019 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

42 minutes ago, thailand49 said:

People keep talking and bringing it up surely it will happen since Thais aren't going to come up with it on their own.

 

SILENCE IS GOLDEN! 

That ship has sailed. 

[Laza 45]

I'm no expert but it seems to me that the requirement for OA visa health insurance is because no money is kept in Thailand as with other visas.. the Non O with no money in Thailand could become a problem wait and see.  Visas that have a deposit requirement inside Thailand are probably ok for the foreseeable future.. that is my take anyway.. 

[GeorgeCross]

1 hour ago, Assurancetourix said:

It is not impossible that over time they will realize that this totally unproductive measure will make short or long-term tourists flee to more welcoming countries.
and when a good habit is taken we rarely come back on it.
If those who have used to come to Thailand for many years start to like Vietnam much more conciliatory than Thailand in terms of tourist visas or other visas, they will quickly forget about Thailand.

 

if they start meeting the obvious demand and throw up a few girl and reggae bars thailand will be toast. i've seen the beaches and they've got it they just need to promote it.

 

 

[GeorgeCross]

6 minutes ago, Laza 45 said:

I'm no expert but it seems to me that the requirement for OA visa health insurance is because no money is kept in Thailand as with other visas.. the Non O with no money in Thailand could become a problem wait and see.  Visas that have a deposit requirement inside Thailand are probably ok for the foreseeable future.. that is my take anyway.. 

 

it doesn't matter if the money is kept in thailand or not, a hospital can't just request it from a local bank on the event of an expat's death and an unpaid hospital bill and expect it transferred in the morning!

[Chongalulu]

All you can predict with any degree of certainty is that it will be ill conceived,not thought through,be poorly drafted,full of ambiguity and widely misunderstood by all those it affects ,especially IOs.

[PatOngo]

2 hours ago, Assurancetourix said:

 
  they will quickly forget about Thailand.

Where's that?

[GalaxyMan]

20 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I think it's only retirees they are after.

Those looking after a wife or kids will probably be OK.

Retirees are an easy target as there are no 'human rights' issues with causing problems for them.

Since when does Thailand give two <deleted>tts about human rights? ????

[kingofthemountain]

3 hours ago, billsmart said:

I think that is what the THB 800K or THB 65K-a-month, or THB 400K or THB 40K-a-month requirements are for.

 

Just my opinion... ????

 

And you was wrong

the ''legend'' was the funds was to live in Thailand during 1 year using this money

since the last requirements concerning the funds have showed 

(with 400 000 all year long blocked in bank) in fact it's just  a forced loan to the Thai bank system

Edited November 7, 2019 by kingofthemountain

[Thaidream]

The Health Ministry is run by adminstrative people- some doctors who have not practiced medicine in years. They have no concept of what insurance is for and how it should work.

 

Thailand has a huge funding problem in its hospital system that has nothing to do with foreigners not paying their bills-  the problem is that many Thais are poor and cannot pay their bills and  the Government has to eat the cost.  In fact- years ago the Junta proposed a reduction in the 30 Baht scheme and was met with 'bad press'.  It is common knowledge that the Thai Healthcare system is poorly funded by the Government.

 

Guess who the  bogey man always is- Of course, long stay foreigners, uninsured, causing huge losses and that is why the hospital system is losing money.  I seriously doubt that the impact of a relatively few  long stay foreigners not paying their bills is causing big losses in the health system.

 

  I could believe that out of 30 million tourists- there would be a percentage that have accidents; no travel insurance; and cannot pay the bill. I can also believe that a much larger loss is due to  Thais not being able to pay and not having insurance. The pure numbers of 70 million Thais/40 million tourists versus possibly 80,000 long stayers bears that out. LOng stayers are definitely not the problem.

 

While I can agree that people should have coverage-  there has to be a way to make it available to everyone at an afforable price.  I can even agree that anyone coming in on O-A Visa be required to have coverage but not applied retroactively to people already here and holding O-A Visa/Extensions of any kind.

 

The current requirement  and it's implementation is a farce and essentially a scam to enrich a small number of bureacrats and not solve any issue of uniinsured; losses to hospitals  etc.   It's merely a ploy to place the blame for  incompetence in running the Thai Hospital system on the easiest link- foreigners.   Now the politicians can boast to everyone that the funding problem has been solved/

 

her sad thing is thst they could have really solved the problem by making insurance mandatory  for anyone coming in the future  - long stayers; tourists; Non Ed; elite; Non O by phasing in the process in increments and creating  a variety of options to meet the requirement to include allowing buyins to the Thai Social Security System

 

Instead they have created a chaotic system- pushed all  O-A holders past, present and future into an insurance pool of age 50-80.  One doesn't need to be an actuary to understand the result is poor coverage and sky high premiums.

 

To answer the survey- I  indicated I thought it would  remain only for the O-A as i think the number of complaints will continue to rise  exponentially and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Bureau will grow tired of  the complaints and angry foreigners and also picked up by the International MEdia.

Edited November 7, 2019 by Thaidream

[Skallywag]

Excuse me if this has already been mentioned.

I think all tourist should/will be required to have Travel insurance.

Already mandatory in all 26 Schengen area countries in europe

As well as, Ecuador, Turkey, Cuba, Russia, and a few others

 

[MeePeeMai]

9 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

i think the number of complaints will continue to rise  exponentially and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Bureau will grow tired of  the complaints and angry foreigners.  

 

I think it gives them a woody so I'm expecting more pain in the near future for ALL non-Thais (here in the Land of Smiles).

Edited November 7, 2019 by MeePeeMai

[BritManToo]

1 minute ago, MeePeeMai said:

 

I think it gives them a woody so I'm expecting more pain in the near future for ALL non-Thais (here in the Land of Smiles).

Nah, they love the Chinese.

If only they could figure out how to stop killing quite so many while they're here, everyone would be happy as Larry.

[BritManToo]

8 minutes ago, Skallywag said:

Excuse me if this has already been mentioned.

I think all tourist should/will be required to have Travel insurance.

Already mandatory in all 26 Schengen area countries in europe

 

Not required for an EU citizens foreign spouse or immediate family members.

And if you take your spouse to the UK on settlement, they buy into the full coverage NHS system, which is not dependent on age or pre-existing medical conditions.

Edited November 7, 2019 by BritManToo

[Royco]

As mentioned before, several ministries already said it will be implemented. 

 

We may not like it, their insurance policies may be rubbish, we may think it is not fair. I believe all of that does not impress authorities at all, nor do Thai people care. 

[Royco]

9 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Not required for an EU citizens foreign spouse or immediate family members.

 

If I want to take my Thai wife to the Netherlands, she is required to show travel insurance when applying for a Schengen visa.

[emptypockets]

11 hours ago, simon43 said:

 

 

 

Too right JT!  When my 5-year Elite visa was coming up for renewal, I looked at my bank account, considered the direction that Thailand was going, and moved over the Mekong to live in Laos for 15,000 baht/year visa+WP instead! ????

So you keep on telling us. And when Laos gets too expensive for you - Bangladesh, perhaps as you've already done Myanmar.

[digger70]

20 hours ago, emptypockets said:

Why would it need to be expanded? If the intention was to include everyone it would have been done when the initial insurance requirements were being discussed. The immigration people aren't known for subtlety.

My personal take on it all is that the changes requiring 400k to be kept in the bank equals the 400k insurance for those on an OA visa. For married folk, they have family to support them. 

As I said that is my personal take on the matter and I'm sure other people have their own opinions.

I do get the feeling some people thrive on drama, real or imagined. I'm not one of them fortunately.

It would be fine,(it should be ) if one could Use the THB400K /THB800K  But if one uses that even if one tops that back up before applying for the Next extension One can/t get a new extension Because the money Has to Stay In the Bank.

[BritManToo]

20 minutes ago, Royco said:

If I want to take my Thai wife to the Netherlands, she is required to show travel insurance when applying for a Schengen visa.

Take her to France where she won't.

[Jingthing]

8 minutes ago, digger70 said:

It would be fine,(it should be ) if one could Use the THB400K /THB800K  But if one uses that even if one tops that back up before applying for the Next extension One can/t get a new extension Because the money Has to Stay In the Bank.

Also income method people have no minimum bank balance requirements at all! 

[wwest5829]

21 hours ago, Jingthing said:

So if you think it's only about retirees are you predicting that it will expand to retirement extensions based on O?

Also many retirees are using the Elite based visa.

People might say those people are wealthy but in reality that isn't always the case especially after they've spent the money on the Elite membership. 

Unless we see the statistical basis for the numbers of those holding various Visas (from a reliable source) we have only unfounded speculation. Same with the statistics concerning the stiffing of medical bills.

[Jingthing]

3 minutes ago, wwest5829 said:

Unless we see the statistical basis for the numbers of those holding various Visas (from a reliable source) we have only unfounded speculation. Same with the statistics concerning the stiffing of medical bills.

So? 

[wwest5829]

20 hours ago, sirineou said:

How about those too old to get insurance, what should they have? cyanide?  

Understood, your opinion. Now my equal opinion. Had a heart attack here in 2025 (5 by-passes in 2005). Cannot qualify for health insurance which would pay for the pre- existing conditions. Oh, 2015? 411,000 baht bill. Have insurance that paid 5000usd, I paid the rest from personal funds (ouch). One demand fits all? Easier to administer but driving folks to just change Visas or go elsewhere.

[wwest5829]

7 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Yes that matches my prediction exactly. 

 

I added a time frame just to keep it real. It would have been silly to say anytime in the future. 

 

Of course I hope I'm wrong and they leave the O crew out of this. 

In which case, I just switch my O-A to an O. Somehow I don’t think Thai Immigration will not be watching this “out”.

[wwest5829]

4 hours ago, GeorgeCross said:

call me a cynic but i dont believe this "insurance" is actually to pay for you to get better from anything.. its just to clear any potential hospital bill in your last few days. a cost they cannot currently claw back.

 

if they wanted to help us pay our medical bills they would have introduced a fair priced insurance with decent coverage or allowed us access to thai social care at a reasonable cost.

 

 

But do note. Since the insurance will not pay for my pre-existing heart condition, then the bill will not be paid by insurance anyway. Kind of screws up the thinking of mandatory insurance to make sure bills are paid.

[DavidBak]

I am Korean (Rep of Korea) passport holder aged over 60 and got Non-imm O-A visa Oct 25th 2019 from Thai Embassy in Korea. Entered Suv airport Nov. 4 and the immigration officer at airport asked me proof of medical insurance. I explained Thai Embassy did not ask for medical insurance to apply visa and they confirmed  visa application after Oct 31 will required this paper. They also confirmed no medical proof docs to enter Thailand with this visa which issued before Oct 31.

I understand the insurance requirement is effected to the visa application after Oct 31. That is insurance certificate will be a necessary paper to apply visa, not to show when enter to Thailand. 
I cannot understand why airport entry immigration ask for this paper.

[sirineou]

16 minutes ago, wwest5829 said:

Understood, your opinion. Now my equal opinion. Had a heart attack here in 2025 (5 by-passes in 2005). Cannot qualify for health insurance which would pay for the pre- existing conditions. Oh, 2015? 411,000 baht bill. Have insurance that paid 5000usd, I paid the rest from personal funds (ouch). One demand fits all? Easier to administer but driving folks to just change Visas or go elsewhere.

Same here. At my age, insurance in Thailand will only cover me for the Ebola. I have enough funds to self insure for emergencies and visits to the doctor. for everything else I would have to skedaddle back to the US. 

[owl sees all]

21 hours ago, darksidedog said:

I guess it depends on how many more of us they want to leave. They have been tightening the noose for some time now and expat numbers have been dropping steadily. While many businesses depend on us, the authorities do not seem to view us as mega desirable, so it wouldn't surprise me to see the stranglehold tightened to push all but the filthy rich out.

Bang on the money there DSD.

 

The way Cha Cha brown nosed to the China boss; well it makes you think. it's only time bfore we (farang) are forced out. Plenty of Indians and Chinese to take our place. 

 

I have just returned from my visa agent. I think this will be my last 12 months here. I've enjoyed the odd moment, and have a wonderful daughter. Just hope she can join me when I have to leave.

Edited November 7, 2019 by owl sees all

[IraqRon]

3 hours ago, Jingthing said:

That ship has sailed. 

yes, thanks to people starting polls like this. Don't you know that authorities read this website?   Are you the person who had the neighbor thai person who was a high official in immigration and you constantly complained to about the embassy/consulate statements on your morning rides???

Again, as someone brought up just now, if you have a medical need to spend the monies required to be in the bank all year, then even if you top up two months prior to the next extension, you will or can be denied.

 

Thanks to all who complained about those affidavits, causing untold problems to even your country men I believe. Yes, some folks gamed the system for various reasons, not something the Thais are unfamiliar with.