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Just now, Sheryl said:

The medical benefit and the pension benefit are entirely different things under SS and not dependent on one another.

 

Contributions for medical care are never refunded, period. You can continue eligibility through self pay if you act within 6 months of retirement.

 

Under the pension benefit it depends on how long you were covered by the scheme. If around 10 years (approx, don't quote me on that) you have a choice of a refund of contributions or a monthly pension for life. Between I think 1 to 10 years (approx), you can only claim the refund.

 

What you choose to do re pension benefit has no bearing on your medical cover though some SSOs have erroneously told people it did.

So you're saying that I should be able to claim back, in my case 6 years of contributions as well as carrying on paying monthly for my healthcare under section 39?

   they didn't tell me that lol

3 hours ago, scorecard said:

Very interesting and valueable information, thanks for sharing.

 

Can you recall if the Social Security Fund SSF will acept payments through Krung Thai Bank or Bangkok Bank? 

 

I'm guessing you got a refund of your employment based SSF contributions on retirement or termination? At the time of getting the refund did the SSF officer tell you / advise you that you can continue your Injury and Sickness benefits? Or did you get this information from a different source? 

 

I'm about to make a further visit to the SSF, probably their HO at Nonthaburi. My situation:

 

- Contributed to the SSF for about 20 years, 3 different employers.

- Retired at 60, company accountant gave me some documents to take to the SSF at Din Daeng to get a contributions refund. Accountant had zero knowledge of anything about the SSF policies/ procedures etc.

- Went to Din Daeng, officer spoke very good Englisn, I asked if they had any documents I should read for further information in Thai or English. Answer 'we don't have any documents like that'

- I waited a couple of hours then walked away with a large amount of cash, and called my company accountant to tell her 'refund received'.

- Later same evening accountnat was talking to any old friend, she mentioned my refund, her friend responded 'he can continue his Injury and Sickness benefits, he should go back tomorrow morning and tell them 'want to continue Injury and Sickness benefits'.

- I went back next morning, showed another officer the documents from the previous afternoon, she also spoke good English and I said 'I want to continue my his Injury and Sickness benefits'.

- She froze for a minute then said, very clear English 'You cannot continue, you are too late, you have to complete the forms to continue on the same day you get your refund of contribitions'.

- I asked to speak to a supervisor, she froze gain then said 'OK I will get the supervisor.

- She returned to the room with another lady, they stopped well before getting to the counter and had some discussion.

- Both came to the counter, supervisor said 'how can I help you', very good/clear English. I responded he should go back tomorrow morning and tell them 'want to continue Injury and Sickness benefits'.

- Supervisor responded, good English 'she has already told you, You cannot continue, you are too late, you have to complete the forms to continue on the same day you get your refund of contribitions'.

- I asked if they had any documents Thai or English that I could read. Answer 'we don't have that' and they both walked away'.

- I naively believed they were telling me the correct / legal / according to the SSF Act policy on this point.

- Some years on by accident I discovered that 'members have 6 months to decide if they want to continue - Article 39 of the Act.

- Bottom line it's now well past six months but I've had other comments about insisting the SSF should, in my case, waive the six months aspect and allow me to continue. All step by step.

 

Sorry this is so long. My question: would you please share when/how you became aware of being able to continue your Injury and Sickness benefits and pay every month at the bank?

 

Sorry to be a nuisance, however any detail I can find on this is very valuable.

 

Thanks.

I found out the section 39 info from here, ThaiVisa, then got on to the local SSO at the time while I was still Teaching. 

 I went around the office on the same week that I finished and applied for it.

 Mine was further complicated by my home province being different from where I was working.

As far as I understand it, if you go to section 39, you don't claim your SS payments back, you continue them at the rate of 430 something bahts every month, which gives you free meds and hospitals if you've paid in for, 3 years, I think. Up to a pension if you've paid in for 15 years or so...

10 hours ago, LogicThai said:

I know. None of the many things one might assume would be proof of identity seem to be acceptable: having been in the country for years, married to a Thai and having had Thai children, all documents translated and certified many times (including family name indeed), issued a driving licence, paid taxes, etc. All of that is to be disregarded entirely. Strange country...

Having just gone through this process myself, I'd say that the SSO's are very unhelpful to foreigners trying to get on to section 39 SS, to the point where I wonder if it's actual policy to put us off getting on it.

 I seem to have finally got on it, but to get to the point of direct debits from my bank, took 5 months of me having to go to the office 50 kms away in person to pay the monthly payments before they got the DD together.

I had to open a new acc with SCB because they'd only do DD's from certain banks (not Kasikorn), It took them 3 months to tell me this after I got quite angry about it in their office in the end.

 So you need to persevere, as I really don't think the various office staff like the idea of farangs being able to get it at all...

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

Not sure about that... been a bit of a can of worms and back pedaling has been rife. Still, it is being advertised for sale and home delivery on the radio now, so that genie isn't going back in the bottle! Grab delivering it yet?

Dunno about Grab but I expect so, Kerry and Flash do...

5 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Interesting.... I thought French was the main language there.

About 50/50, So Cameroonians have told me...

19 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

That is truly sad if he used an agent to obtain his visa and in the end got hosed....sucks, and he should be naming names to immigration......

I don't think immigration will want to go chasing down visa agents when you consider what they get from them...

3 hours ago, andyman57 said:

In the word's of Freddie mercury and another one bites and another one bites another one bites the dust ????????

"and another one gone, another one gone, another one bites the dust"

 is how it goes, I think...

5 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

The problem with the "supply and demand" argument is when you get a good teacher who would like more money but supply and demand Thai style says: "Why would I pay a good teacher more money when I can pay a bad teacher the same?  All we care about is having a foreign person in front of the class and keeping a larger cut of the money."

 

So the good teacher goes elsewhere and the bad teacher comes.  Even if the bad teacher becomes a good teacher, they will then also want to move on. 

 

So either way the class is likely to have a bad teacher based on the level of salary, but the supply and demand argument still says this is fine and no one has any room to complain.

Unfortunately, what you've describe happens at virtually every state school in the country, The students being taught well comes a distant second to money making, and this is encouraged from the top down, as is cheating as far as I can see...

11 hours ago, ESLTeacher1989 said:

I guess the question people ponder is how can poorer countries and much less developed countires of Myanmar and Vietnam (Which are also more military/communist/strict countries) offer 2 x twice the salary than thailand.

 

 

It's simple really, the other countries want their kids to learn English, Thailands Gov. doesn't want them to, an educated populace are far more likely to rise up, as they see how they're being treated by their rulers...

7 hours ago, Will B Good said:

I heard the flat earthers panicked when the covid 2m rule was brought in.........they felt this could push some of their members over the edge.

Ha, that was very good...

I thought Terry Pratchett solved this one years ago...

 "The world is a disc, sitting on the backs of four Elephants who stand on the back of great At'uin the mighty star turtle"...

1 hour ago, Lemsta69 said:

Ganga is a sacred river in India, not something you smoke to get high...

 

https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/5975/ganga

People have been calling weed Ganja for hundreds of years in many parts of India and Asia in general...

11 hours ago, Muhendis said:

I find that tiger balm is quite effective on mosquito bites. After scratching application of the tiger balm will sting for a few seconds then all irritation subsides.

Golden Cup balm is what I and all the Isaan Thais use as a cheap local alternative to Tiger balm, works just as well for all the same stuff...

20 hours ago, JCCR6 said:

Off to Finland at this time of the year… poor guy

I don't know what happens to the broke and homeless in Finland, hopefully he has some friends or family somewhere there. I'm sure that you wouldn't survive a night on the streets in a Finnish winter...

23 hours ago, bob smith said:

This ^^^

 

thanks for explaining the importance of privacy to those who may be in need of educating.

Also do we want no more car boot sales or classified ads for 2nd hand goods?

 to name but two things that you need cash for, there are many others...

44 minutes ago, Bobydog said:

That Guy still confuses me, is he an Member of parliament or an army osifer,  talk about double standards, a good nip&tuck would be a good move.lol

All Thai gov. workers have to wear their uniform on Mondays, Teachers, Tax officers etc. ALL of them, very bizarre to me as well...

A great trip and pics, well done...

3 hours ago, digger70 said:

 Backhoe!  that is the proper name for the beast .

Thats what they call them in Aus . 

People in Los call them JCB  .

JCB is just a Brand name like Case , Ford, Caterpillar

Most of the UK calls em JCB's too...