Health Insurance mandatory for long-stay foreigners

[Rex (Admin)]

Tue 14 May 2019, 5:25 pm

Health Insurance now mandatory for long-stay foreigners


HEALTH insurance has been made mandatory for foreigners aged 50 years and above seeking long-term stay in Thailand.
The insurance policy must offer up to Bt40,000 coverage for outpatient treatment and up to Bt400,000 for inpatient treatment. 

Read the story on Thaivisa.com => http://bit.ly/2VBmCg6

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[Rex (Admin)]

Personally, I am not affected that much. I have had Aetna for 10 years. But it looks like I may have to add outpatinet coverage which--if you are relatively helathy--is a ridiculous, expensive, unnecessary waste of money.

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[screamer]

I've just been talking about this.
A lot of companies won't insure people over 65 years old so what are they to do?
After all, 65+ is a major part of the expat population.


Any suggestions/recommendations for health insurance companies?

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[Rex (Admin)]

One of the few intelligent decisions I made about my future was getting on with Aetna (formerly BUPA) when I was 61, the deadline for obtaining coverage that cannot be cancelled. The coverage is really crap for anything serious, but maybe better that dying in a ditch somewhere, or maybe patch me up good enough to survive a flight back to the U.S. were medicare applies.

If the gov is serious about enforcing this, people over 65 are seriously fucked. 

I would also be interested to know which companies, if any, are covering older expats.

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[Surfer]

One of the few intelligent decisions I made about my future was getting on with Aetna (formerly BUPA) when I was 61, the deadline for obtaining coverage that cannot be cancelled. The coverage is really crap for anything serious, but maybe better that dying in a ditch somewhere, or maybe patch me up good enough to survive a flight back to the U.S. were medicare applies.

If the gov is serious about enforcing this, people over 65 are seriously fucked. 

I would also be interested to know which companies, if any, are covering older expats.

I think that all of the companies listed here accept people up to 75 or older:  https://longstay.tgia.org/
The link is from the original article on Thai Visa.
The confusing part of the announcement is that it states "O-A" visas. Does that include Non O and O or is this targeted at just O-A ??

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[Rex (Admin)]

Tks for the link.  You raise good point. The problem is that this sort of thing is usually announced without having thought through the various unintended consequences and adjustments that might have to be made to make all the square pegs fit into the round holes. What you end up with is a lot of confusion and the final decisions left up to the individual Imm offices, which can come up with very different interpretations.

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[True Blue]

What about people with serious existing problems (heart, diabetes)? I haven't come across an insurance company which will cover you if you already have these problems.


 I read that the government think expats are a burden on the health system which I think is a load of bullshit. The problem with the Thai system is that it's very badly managed. I was in Queen Sirakit Heart Centre last month and after a few tests and draining some fluid from the chest/lungs I was handed a bill for 6,000 baht. I was happy to pay this as I received excellent service and I would definitely recommend any of you with heart problems to get treatment there. While I was there I looked at the pricing of private rooms. If you are a full paying patient the room was 1,200 baht a night. If you are a government worker the price was 200 baht per night. Who's the burden?

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[Surfer]

What about people with serious existing problems (heart, diabetes)? I haven't come across an insurance company which will cover you if you already have these problems.


 I read that the government think expats are a burden on the health system which I think is a load of bullshit. The problem with the Thai system is that it's very badly managed. I was in Queen Sirakit Heart Centre last month and after a few tests and draining some fluid from the chest/lungs I was handed a bill for 6,000 baht. I was happy to pay this as I received excellent service and I would definitely recommend any of you with heart problems to get treatment there. While I was there I looked at the pricing of private rooms. If you are a full paying patient the room was 1,200 baht a night. If you are a government worker the price was 200 baht per night. Who's the burden?

Good point.  I am lucky enough to have a policy with AIA for the last 15 years, but I will have a problem if Immigration apply the ruling to all Extensions. My policy (like Rex) is for "In Patient" only and AIA will not allow me to extend it to "Out Patient" due to existing conditions. 

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[Rex (Admin)]

We don't know how this is going to play out, however at this moment, the literalist interpretation is that if you are unable to obtain the specified coverage, for whatever reason, you will be denied a visa extension and you evil, slimy foreigner must go home. Period. The fact that this might represent an inconvenience and a burden to the evil, slimy foreigner and his spouse and family is not really an issue one way or the other.  Whether or not the sincere intention is to protect the poor, pitiful health care providers from the evil, slimy foreigner, the actual impact is perfectly aligned with the ongoing policy of reducing the number of evil, slimy foreigners living in Thailand. It is really quite "elegant" if you think about it because at this point there isn't any obvious work-around as there might be with other visa regulations. If you can't get the coverage, you cant get the coverage. Sorry, Charlie!

If there is sufficient demand, maybe the various carriers will form a pool ofr the outliers.  Bet that will cost a bundle.

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[Rex (Admin)]

NEWS FLASH!  Hot off the press from BOOOOPA.  Unless something was lost in the translation, at present my next renewal will cost B72K.  (Oh, joy!).  However, if I upgrade to OPD B75,000 maximum, my new premium will be B120K.  That is an additional B48K for something I don't use.

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[fceligoj]

I will be doing my 90 Day Report tomorrow, Thursday.  It'll interesting if anything is said about the mandatory medical insurance for long term stay under the retirement extension I have.  Will report back.

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[Savannah20]

Hoping this link works. Could be some deals out there at reduced costs. Especially if the policy has a deductible.

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[avvocato]

I am covered by my wife's government insurance. I wonder how immigration will treat that "policy" and what I might need in documentation from the Teacher's Association?

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[Rex (Admin)]

Wed 15 May 2019, 9:44 pmThanks Savannah!An interesting question came in the comments section of the video you shared about pre-existing conditions. The most common pre-existing condition for older evil, slimy foreigners is hypertension. I think about 1/3 of all older people have it.  Hypertension and quote-unquote "its complications" is excluded by most or all carriers. That means if you have hypertension, you had better hope for cancer because if you have a catastrophic stoker or heart or kidney event, they can blame it on hypertension and deny your claim.That throws a fly into the ointment, doesn't it? Is Imm now supposed to have someone on staff who can read an insurance policy and screen for exclusions that might mean the evil, smelly foreigner might stiff the poor, pitiful hospitals and not pay his bill?  "Oh, Mr. Evil Smelly Foreigner, we see you have that really, really GROOVY BOOOOOPA insurance that you paid B75K for. However, since there are exclusions we can't have you abusing the poor hospitals and not paying your bill. VISA DENIED Now, Thailand is safe from you!  Stamp, stamp, stamp ... "What about policies with high deductibles and/or co-pays? I assume that would get your visa denied because what if you didn't have the cash to pay the deductible or the co-pay?BTW, here is the link to some health insurance alternatives https://longstay.tgia.org/

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[avvocato]

After further review looks like this affects only O-A visa holders , and I believe retirement / marriage extensions are O.

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