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With no travel insurance, Canadian family struggles to bring injured father home from Thailand


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On 12/4/2019 at 8:10 AM, bluejets said:

Exactly.........

I never travel without it.

Trip back there cost me AUD$220.00 for both myself and my wife combined. 

I consider that to be an excellent investment.

It seems to be getting cheaper in fact as I can remember paying much more previously with the same insurance company for the same cover.

Oh...and I am just short of 69.

 

On 12/4/2019 at 8:10 AM, bluejets said:

Exactly.........

I never travel without it.

Trip back there cost me AUD$220.00 for both myself and my wife combined. 

I consider that to be an excellent investment.

It seems to be getting cheaper in fact as I can remember paying much more previously with the same insurance company for the same cover.

Oh...and I am just short of 69.

Hope its not Covermore !

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On 12/4/2019 at 10:34 PM, maddox41 said:

I've  been living  here for 10 yrs and woundnt walk out the door without health insurance especially riding a motorcycle. 

What I do is go home once a Yr to visit family etc. I get  1 yrs travel insurance including extreme sports and motorbike with a add on clause of  6 months if I choose to stay away longer. 

And for 600 aud a Yr  it's peace of  mind I'm 52 and I can't believe how many of my farang friends don't have it crazy... 

 

 

Who do you get this cover for 12 mths from 

 

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4 hours ago, Huckenfell said:

Who do you get this cover for 12 mths from 

 

Any travel insurance co will enable you purchase a travel policy annually to cover  multi trips. Just means paying upfront for the whole year instead of buying a policy every time you travel. I'm not sure if Huckenfell is bending the rules of the policy though, and using it as a defacto residents health insurance policy. He may be in for a surprise if he goes to claim. Travel insurance is not meant to be used this way.

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On 12/5/2019 at 10:07 PM, Melbun said:

,,,. I'm not sure if Huckenfell is bending the rules of the policy though, and using it as a defacto residents health insurance policy. He may be in for a surprise if he goes to claim. Travel insurance is not meant to be used this way.

It depends on your situation, home-country and actual policy conditions.

In my situation, travel-insurance is a much better (and cheaper) solution than a thai health-insurance policy.

In my home-country, where I still have my residence, I am fully covered with as good as zero cost..

But as I stay almost permanently in Thailand (with at least 1 visit per year to visit family/friends in my home-country) I need to be covered in Thailand in case of accident and sudden illness that requires immediate treatment.  My surprislngly cheap travel-insurance policy provides that, as well as re-patriation at zero cost.  

As my annual travel-insurance policy only covers trips up to 6 months (after which you need to be at least 2 weeks again in your home-country, before the next trip will be covered), I cover the non-insured periods with an on-the-fly insurance policy. 

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On 12/7/2019 at 3:06 PM, Peter Denis said:

It depends on your situation, home-country and actual policy conditions.

In my situation, travel-insurance is a much better (and cheaper) solution than a thai health-insurance policy.

In my home-country, where I still have my residence, I am fully covered with as good as zero cost..

But as I stay almost permanently in Thailand (with at least 1 visit per year to visit family/friends in my home-country) I need to be covered in Thailand in case of accident and sudden illness that requires immediate treatment.  My surprislngly cheap travel-insurance policy provides that, as well as re-patriation at zero cost.  

As my annual travel-insurance policy only covers trips up to 6 months (after which you need to be at least 2 weeks again in your home-country, before the next trip will be covered), I cover the non-insured periods with an on-the-fly insurance policy. 

Sounds ok - so why don't expats do this. Why are they all moaning. Maybe they burn their bridges behind them. However, if an insurance company wants to deny a payout to you, maybe all they have to do is determine where you spend most of your time - will Thailand be your primary residence ?? I think so. My point being that travel insurance is for travel - not for a long term resident of another country. You may be in for a shock. Would suggest you get expert advice.

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12 minutes ago, Melbun said:

However, if an insurance company wants to deny a payout to you, maybe all they have to do is determine where you spend most of your time - will Thailand be your primary residence ?? I think so. My point being that travel insurance is for travel - not for a long term resident of another country. You may be in for a shock. Would suggest you get expert advice.

Why would anyone require to seek expert advice?  For example, if a multi-trip travel insurance policy has a 90 day trip limit and the policy holder requires to return home for two weeks to reset the counter then the terms of the policy haven't been broken.  

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1 hour ago, Melbun said:

... However, if an insurance company wants to deny a payout to you, maybe all they have to do is determine where you spend most of your time - will Thailand be your primary residence ?? I think so. My point being that travel insurance is for travel - not for a long term resident of another country. You may be in for a shock. Would suggest you get expert advice.

A couple of months ago somebody made same remark.  So I contacted my travel-insurance company and asked if I was 5,5 month in Thailand, then returned home for 3 weeks and then again went for 5,5 months to Thailand, whether that would void for my coverage.  I knew the answer beforehand as the policy is quite transparent, but wanted to hear them confirm it and indeed they answered that every trip abroad was covered for a max of 6 months and coming back to my home-country for 2 weeks would set the teller back to O, so that in effect it would be possible to stay abroad for 50 weeks a year fully covered

They also indicated that it was possible to buy additional months when my trip would go over 6 months.  But as the cost of that extra month is almost half of the year-premium, it's a much less costly solution for me to take on-the-fly travel-insurance from World Nomads for the periods that go beyond 6 months before returning to my home-country.

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On 12/4/2019 at 6:51 AM, dotpoom said:

One can get "accident insurance" at the local bank for less than 2000 Bt..

K-bank, but they often refuse to pay out.

I had a policy with them, had an accident on my bicycle, they refused to pay.

 

Lots of people think they're covered, but find out the policy is worthless when they attempt to claim.

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9 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

A couple of months ago somebody made same remark.  So I contacted my travel-insurance company and asked if I was 5,5 month in Thailand, then returned home for 3 weeks and then again went for 5,5 months to Thailand, whether that would void for my coverage.  I knew the answer beforehand as the policy is quite transparent, but wanted to hear them confirm it and indeed they answered that every trip abroad was covered for a max of 6 months and coming back to my home-country for 2 weeks would set the teller back to O, so that in effect it would be possible to stay abroad for 50 weeks a year fully covered

They also indicated that it was possible to buy additional months when my trip would go over 6 months.  But as the cost of that extra month is almost half of the year-premium, it's a much less costly solution for me to take on-the-fly travel-insurance from World Nomads for the periods that go beyond 6 months before returning to my home-country.

Sounds good. Either I didn't read incorrectly or I understood you were staying a year continuously. Is it still cheaper going through all the motions (airfares, visa renewals etc etc .....?) instead of purchasing the local policy in Thailand.

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6 hours ago, Melbun said:

Sounds good. Either I didn't read incorrectly or I understood you were staying a year continuously. Is it still cheaper going through all the motions (airfares, visa renewals etc etc .....?) instead of purchasing the local policy in Thailand.

It depends on your situation.

As I am going at least once a year back to my home-country to visit friends/family travel-insurance is a far better option than purchasing a local health-insurance policy.  It's not only way cheaper, but it also includes re-patriation, as I prefer in case of serious accident/illness to be treated in my home-country. 

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2 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

It depends on your situation.

As I am going at least once a year back to my home-country to visit friends/family travel-insurance is a far better option than purchasing a local health-insurance policy.  It's not only way cheaper, but it also includes re-patriation, as I prefer in case of serious accident/illness to be treated in my home-country. 

My last comment so as not to belabor the point. If you have a serious accident/illness with travel insurance, you must first contact the insurance provider in your home land. You will then be given instructions on how best to deal with the medical emergency. Most of the time, you will be treated locally with the option (in their opinion, based on the medical report) of dealing with the problem locally or a last resort of repatriation. Bear in mind repatriation is EXTREMELY expensive as there needs to be a medico/s escorting the patient on a flight and several business class seats must be secured. You have no say my friend. It's up to them, if you would be repatriated. Example: you have a heart attack in Thailand - there is no way and no time for repatriation. Also, costs are sometimes paid by the patient up front and re-reimbursed when you later lodge the claim. It's not black and white and you may have a false sense of security.

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9 minutes ago, Melbun said:

If you have a serious accident/illness with travel insurance, you must first contact the insurance provider in your home land. You will then be given instructions on how best to deal with the medical emergency.

Provided of course you are conscious and compos. If not ... ?

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3 hours ago, ThaiBunny said:

Provided of course you are conscious and compos. If not ... ?

If non compos mentis ?? Doesn't matter does it. Let's hope the decisions someone makes on your behalf, enables you to wake up from a nightmare.

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