Outpatient Insurance Requirement for Retirement Visa.............................

[Makoshark]

While my in-patient health insurance runs me 165,000 bht per year with Luma , Last year the requirement was added for out-patient at another cost to me of 100,000 bht.

 

Is this still a requirement and do you know of other companies less expensive?

 

Thanks

[ubonjoe]

The insurance is only required if you are extending a permit to stay from a OA visa.

If you are then 40k bhat of outpatient care is required.

You could check some ot the companies listed here. https://longstay.tgia.org/home/companiesoa

[Sheryl]

That is an incredibly high premium for the in-pt only alone. In fact about the highest I have ever heard of.

 

How old are you? (which will also limit your choices if you are in fact needing to meet OA requirements).

 

 

[crazykopite]

My understanding is you don’t need any form of insurance fir extension of stay ( retirement visa as you call it ) insurance is only required for OA visa .

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, crazykopite said:

My understanding is you don’t need any form of insurance fir extension of stay ( retirement visa as you call it ) insurance is only required for OA visa .

If he used a OA visa issued by an embassy in his home country and then extended the one year permit of stay from it based upon retirement the 40/400k insurance is required. The rules were changed in October of 2019.

[micmichd]

13 hours ago, Sheryl said:

That is an incredibly high premium for the in-pt only alone. In fact about the highest I have ever heard of.

 

How old are you? (which will also limit your choices if you are in fact needing to meet OA requirements).

 

 

The limit for a new contract is usually 75yo. Once in, it can be extended up to 99yo. 

[rwill]

I don't know how old you are or what type of coverage you have but 265K year is very expensive.

My 70 year old wife's coverage costs around 102K/year for worldwide in/out coverage with no deductible, covers up to 5 million baht per incident.

Could make it even cheaper with a deductible.  Of course minus exclusions.

After 65 years old it is very hard, if not impossible, to find a company that will take you as a new customer.

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, rwill said:

I don't know how old you are or what type of coverage you have but 265K year is very expensive.

My 70 year old wife's coverage costs around 102K/year for worldwide in/out coverage with no deductible, covers up to 5 million baht per incident.

Could make it even cheaper with a deductible.  Of course minus exclusions.

After 65 years old it is very hard, if not impossible, to find a company that will take you as a new customer.

 

Actually there are both international and Thai companies that will issue policies past that age. Some International policies can be gotten even at age 99. The larger problem is that past 65 most people have one or more pre-existing conditions.

 

OP evidentally has extension of stay based on an OA visa so his insurance must be from one of the tga approved companies. Of these, Pacific Cross and LMG will issue new policy up to age 75.

[chilly07]

If they won't cover pre existing conditions the cover is almost worthless!

[LarryLEB]

I have an OA visa.  I have had medical insurance with a company here in Pattaya since age 57.  I'm currently 68.

 

Until last year, I had only in-patient coverage.  To satisfy the new Immigration requirement last year, it was necessary to add at least 40,000 Baht in outpatient coverage.

 

My insurance premium without outpatient was about 50,000 Baht for coverage of 5,000,000 Baht per incident (with a deductible of 40,000 Baht).  The insurance company offered me 2 choices by which to meet the 40,000 Baht outpatient requirement:

1.  A premium of about 70,000 Baht which would provide FULL outpatient coverage.
2.  A premium of about 60,000 Baht which would provide only 40,000 Baht of outpatient coverage.  (They simply added 10,000 Baht to my existing premium.)  So, the new Immigration requirement cost me 10,000 Baht.  In your case, being quoted 100,000 Baht for out-patient coverage is @#&!. 

I chose the second option -- 60,000 Baht annual premium.  A few days ago, I renewed for another year at the same cost.

 

 

Note that I have had no claims against my insurance since 2012, so I get a 20% discount for that (as well as a 25% discount for the deductible; and a 20% discount for not having full outpatient coverage).  In 2012, I had an appendectomy -- 140,000 Baht paid for in full by my policy.

 

Note also that the discounts are not cumulative--they cannot be added together.  The 3 discounts amount to a real monetary discount of 52% of the initial premium.

 

My advice would be to add ONLY 40,000 Baht of outpatient (not the more expensive full outpatient coverage) to your policy and to apply a deductible of 40,000 or maybe even 100,000 Baht.

 

Policy premiums seem to jump every 5 years:  at 60, 65, 70, and so on.  As I age, I plan to reduce my policy in-patient coverage to 3,000,000 from 5,000,000, and even lower, as necessary to keep premiums low.  I will also move from my 40,000 deductible to higher deductibles.

 

If you would like the name of my insurance company, you may send me a PM (personal message).

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by LarryLEB

[Dumbfounded]

My understanding is that the insurance requirement only applies to those extending their original OA visa for the first time to a Retirement visa. If you've been here on a retirement extension for a year or more already it doesn't apply to you

[Jingthing]

30 minutes ago, Dumbfounded said:

My understanding is that the insurance requirement only applies to those extending their original OA visa for the first time to a Retirement visa. If you've been here on a retirement extension for a year or more already it doesn't apply to you

No. If you started with an OA the insurance requirement is for EVERY annual extension.

If you started with an O, there is no insurance requirement to start or continue.

[Tuvoc]

16 hours ago, LarryLEB said:

Policy premiums seem to jump every 5 years:  at 60, 65, 70, and so on. 

 

 

Some insurers operate like that, others don't is what I found out when looking at the market last year.

[Sheryl]

6 hours ago, Tuvoc said:

 

Some insurers operate like that, others don't is what I found out when looking at the market last year.

 

All insurers increase premiums with age. Some do it annually and some do it in 5 year increments. When in 5 year increments the jump can be considerable.

[Sheryl]

22 hours ago, LarryLEB said:

I have an OA visa.  I have had medical insurance with a company here in Pattaya since age 57.  I'm currently 68.

 

Until last year, I had only in-patient coverage.  To satisfy the new Immigration requirement last year, it was necessary to add at least 40,000 Baht in outpatient coverage.

 

My insurance premium without outpatient was about 50,000 Baht for coverage of 5,000,000 Baht per incident (with a deductible of 40,000 Baht).  The insurance company offered me 2 choices by which to meet the 40,000 Baht outpatient requirement:

1.  A premium of about 70,000 Baht which would provide FULL outpatient coverage.
2.  A premium of about 60,000 Baht which would provide only 40,000 Baht of outpatient coverage.  (They simply added 10,000 Baht to my existing premium.)  So, the new Immigration requirement cost me 10,000 Baht.  In your case, being quoted 100,000 Baht for out-patient coverage is @#&!. 

I chose the second option -- 60,000 Baht annual premium.  A few days ago, I renewed for another year at the same cost.

 

 

Note that I have had no claims against my insurance since 2012, so I get a 20% discount for that (as well as a 25% discount for the deductible; and a 20% discount for not having full outpatient coverage).  In 2012, I had an appendectomy -- 140,000 Baht paid for in full by my policy.

 

Note also that the discounts are not cumulative--they cannot be added together.  The 3 discounts amount to a real monetary discount of 52% of the initial premium.

 

My advice would be to add ONLY 40,000 Baht of outpatient (not the more expensive full outpatient coverage) to your policy and to apply a deductible of 40,000 or maybe even 100,000 Baht.

 

Policy premiums seem to jump every 5 years:  at 60, 65, 70, and so on.  As I age, I plan to reduce my policy in-patient coverage to 3,000,000 from 5,000,000, and even lower, as necessary to keep premiums low.  I will also move from my 40,000 deductible to higher deductibles.

 

If you would like the name of my insurance company, you may send me a PM (personal message).

 

 

Most insurers do nto offer a 40k OPD option, this is the problem.

 

in addition only certain company's policies are accepted for immigration purposes.

 

The OP has a good ("real") policy and there is nto a 40k OPD add on possible , he has to either add on much larger OPD cover (at huge price) or else get a different policy. In his case the best solution is to get LMG 400/40 policy with 200k deductible to satisfy immigration and keep his other, inpatient only policy for "real" insurance purposes.

 

 

[dapperdan]

I've been getting the OA Visa from NY for many years, so I can stay for about 6 months.  The New York Consulate lists many requirements from police clearance to bank balance which I've always complied with.  I always carry plenty of travel insurance, through my visit,  for my stay. They don't ask for insurance from the Thai insurance companies they suggest, for longer stays. So I guess the Thai insurance requirement only applies if I applied for an extension, for a year, in Thailand. The question is; if they don't have Thai insurance listed as a requirement, I can get an OA as usual without it.  Right?

[Sheryl]

3 hours ago, dapperdan said:

I've been getting the OA Visa from NY for many years, so I can stay for about 6 months.  The New York Consulate lists many requirements from police clearance to bank balance which I've always complied with.  I always carry plenty of travel insurance, through my visit,  for my stay. They don't ask for insurance from the Thai insurance companies they suggest, for longer stays. So I guess the Thai insurance requirement only applies if I applied for an extension, for a year, in Thailand. The question is; if they don't have Thai insurance listed as a requirement, I can get an OA as usual without it.  Right?

 

you have to show proof of insurance the get an OA visa issued. However it can be a foreign policy provided the insurer is willing to sign the "Foreign Insurance Certificate".

 

Some embassies/consulates will accept insurance documents in lieu of that certificate, I don't know of NY is one of them.

[dapperdan]

Travelex refused to comply the "Foreign Insurance Certificate".  Does anyone know of a n insurance company that will sell travel insurance and fill out this form?

n