Sheryl

CVS. They did not guarantee any turn around time but as it happened I got the result in about 24 hours. Your mileage may vary.

Every foreigner entering Thailand, regardless of visa type, must have insurance that covers COVID.

What I did was as follows: 1. Test at pharmacy 70-72 hours before departure. 2. Second test at a clinic (free) the following day As a fall-back plan, I would have gone early to the airport and paid for a while-you-wait test there on the day of departure (expensive) . But as it happened I got both test results in time so no need.

Where in Thailand are you located?

Colonoscopy is never done under true general anestehtic, rather under IV sedation. From the patient experience point of view may seem the same (you don't feel anything or remember anything) but it is not. Usually IV propofol is used but sometimes an opiate plus a short acting benzo. You really, really, really do not want to have this done wide awake. Extremely unpleasant. Many doctors will nto agree to it as well since it is difficult to ensure the patient stays still, and sudden movements while the scope is in there can be dangerous. Every doctor has their own protocol for the prep but it would be unusual to allow ordinary solid foods the day before. It would also be unusual to take the laxative at 7 AM for an 11 AM procedure, needs more lead time than that. The action of the laxative is quick and of short duration. Taking it at 6 PM you are unlikely to be nauseous all night long. Any nausea is while you are drinking it, not for hours afterwards. Taking laxative the evening before and then again very early that morning is probably the most common approach.

At your ages there are many optipns. I advise against a Thai issued policy as they can and will, among other things, raise rates based on claims history. There are many excellent international expat policies which come under EU, UK or Australian insurance law and provide much better protection. You should also always get policy through a broker, this becomes important if there are any claims issurs later. In addition broker eill help you identify available policies and orovide comoarative information to help yoy choose. I use, and recommend, AA brokets www.aainsure.net

Again, I cannot stress enough that there is no approved, tested stem cell treatment for back problems at this time. You will at best receive unproven experimental treatments (with significant risks) if not quack ones and at great expense. Before even thinking in this direction you should gave a consultation with a good, Westetlrn trained spinal specialist of which there are sevetal in Thailand. Yoy have not indicated the nature of the problem , but there have been a lot of advances in minimally invasive surgical techniques to relief spinal nerve compression.

Stem cell treatment for back problems is still in early experimental stages and not approved as a treatment in Thailand nor in most other countries. The Thai Food and Drug Administration has regulated the use of stem cells since 2009 after there were some horrific deaths as a result of their use. Stem cells are permitted for use in conditions were the benefit has been proven, such as leukemia and other blood diseases. Other than that, only in approved clinical research which has been approved by national regulatory committees. Any clinic offering it otherwise is operating against medical council regulations. A fact which should give considerable pause. See https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/certain-clinics-in-thailand-offering-fraudulent-stem-cell-treatments You should be careful not to fall victim to quack or fake treatments. If you really want to try this, best to do it either in a country where it is an approved therapy or in the context of an approved clinical trial. (These have their dangers too, and may not work, but at least the risks will be fully explained. In addition treatment is usually free. Also, the treatment given will be as described which is often not the case in unregulated stem cell clinics in Thailand). Bangkok Samui (or for that matter, anywhere else in Samui) is not where to go for a chronic back problem and what you quoted them as having said makes no sense to me. There are some excellent Western trained spinal specialists in Bangkok. I suggest you see one of these: https://www.bnhhospital.com/search-doctor/entry/4093/ https://www.bangkokhospital.com/en/doctor/dr-tayard-buranakarl

Postpone a week or two if you can, is my advice. things are just too confused, and unlikely to be clearer until after the 1st.

https://www.bangkokhospital.com/en/doctor/prof-em-dr-suchitra-prasansuk

Moved to the Insurance forum. The policy document will state the provisions as regards missed payments. Often there is a grace period during which, if you make up the payments, the policy will stay valid, but they need to read the terms & conditions. If the insurance company fails to honor the terms of the policy (for example, if the policy allows a grace period but they refuse to provide it) then they can file a complaint with the OIC online https://www.oic.or.th/en/home If not (if policy does nto provide a grace period, or if it is less than the time already passed) then they are out of luck. it is very, very common in Thailand - in fact standard practice - not to give out warnings or cancellation letters for unpaid bills but rather just shut off the service. Happens with electric and telephone bills too.

I see it says "one night or until negative test result received" which would often require more than one night especially if the guest's flight got in late. ?

Moved to the Health forum. You are unlikely to find drugs sourced from US here due to very high costs and that almost all such brands can be sourced from Australia or Europe, closer & cheaper. However there is no reason at all to buy an expensive foreign import if there is a locally made generic equiavlent, and there are for the 2 drugs you mention as follows: Atorvastatin: Atorvin, Lipostat, Chlovas, Tovastin Ramipril: Vaspril There might also be GPO brands, in which case name would be the generic plus "GPO". An excellent source of inexpensive generics in Bangkok is Rung Rote pharmacy on Sukhumvit Soi 77 (On Nut). Take BTS to On Nut, walk up Soi 77 (On Nut) about 50-75 meters and you will see large Thai pharmacy on the right hand side (name is only in Thai). It tends to be crowded and little English spoken but if you write out the names in English they will understand.

They have decided to treat it as an endemic disease now that most of the population is vaccinated. I suspect that sooner or later most countries will do likewise (once they reach vaccination targets...which will take some much longer than others). If along with this, hospitalizations are limited to the seriously ill, and barring a new strain that vaccines aren't effective against, this should be manageable.

@Thai Visa Centre Do you have any sense of whether the new systemn for fully vaccinated will require only 1 night quarantine booking or also pre-paid 7 night accomoidation (similar to Sandbox)?

BUPA Thailand is now Aetna Thailand. They used to have a short term policy (called "Sunshine") for people here temporarily but it is no longer in their website (likely no market for it since COVID) and in any case it had a lot of exclusions including all pre-e4xisting conditions. OP I do not think any Thai-issued policy will be feasible given their age, diabetes and short time frame. Best to contact a broker specializing in expat health insurance, I suggest AA www.aainsure.net May well need to settle for a Travel policy. These will generally include both cover for things like lost luggage and medical care. You can't skip the lost luggage/trip cancellation biut and anyway that is a minimal part of the cost. Some travel policies will cover "acute exacerbations" of chronic (pre-existing) conditions. It will cover only emergency and urgent care (i.e. things that cannot wait until after the trip) and the insurter has the option of paying for care in country of supporting a return home (whatever extra costs that entails, and provided medically fit to travel) But see what AA says. They might also like to look here https://www.forbes.com/advisor/travel-insurance/best-senior-travel-insurance/

Fexofenadine is the generic (chemical) name. It has many different brand names in different countries.

It was always required to have equivalent of US $100,000 in COVID insurnce. For all entries. Unclear if this has been modified to be $100,000 in general health cover that includes COVID.

That could easily have been accomodated within COE.just as COEs have adapted over timw to different required quarantine lengths. Only reason for new site/name IMO is rebranding. Aside from being silly (a rose by any other name..etc), creation of a new website and attendant processes is sure to mean weeks if not a month or more of glitches until they get the kinks ironed out.

No. Same story. Logically should be, but is not. Neither is coverage under foreign veteran medical care schemes.

COE will not be eliminated, as it will still be needed for unvaccinated travelers and people coming from countries nto on the least. "Thailand Pass" will be in addition, nto a replacement. And as far as I can see, it is nto really any different from a COE except in name and of course the requirements for vaccinated people from listed countries differs (but that was already true for Sandbox and they used COE for it). For some reason they think keeping the idea and giving it a new name will be more palatable for tourists. I don't think it will be, but of course a couple of days quarantine is far better than 14 days.

IK don't see how it can be less than 2-3 nights depending on what time you arrive. Under the existing ASQ, testing done at the hotel and takes a little over 24 hours for result. With presumably a larger number of people coming, I do nto see how it can be made any quicker, assuming they stick to PCR test as opposed to rapid antigen test.

No. Not possible. Private insurance is required. Unless you have to get it for a long time period COVID insurance is not very 3cpebsive. Length of time required is however long you will initially be stamped in for. So if you come visa ecempt, 30 days. On toyrist visa, 60 days. On a new mon-O visa, 90 days. If on a re-entry petmit then until current date of permission to stay ends (exp date shown on the re-entry permit).

See https://aseannow.com/topic/995803-us-veteran-health-care-cover-info/ Most hospitals do not have direct billing arrangement with Tri-Care (a lot of paperwork) but a few in Chiang Mai do. Otherwise you pay up front and submit for reimbursement)

Carityn is liratadine. Different drug ftom fexofenadine (though both ate antihistamines). If the problem is air pollution rather than allergy, antihistamines may be of limited help.