waitingforalife

Old German Beerhouse, Sukhumvit Soi 13

Having suffered regularly with gout for 28 years and tried all manner of things to reduce the problems - it will never go away - I eventually saw a doctor who told me to cut out animal protein (meat and dairy) and stop drinking alcohol. As nothing thus far had worked I thought it was worth a try so I followed his advice closely for one month, during which my uric acid level went from 11.8 to 5.5 (8.8 is considered upper limit of acceptable) and the pain went away.

I now eat more vegetables and less meat than I used to, drink the same amount of beer and sometimes wine and have not had a gout attack for two years. Don't know if this simple lifestyle change will work for everybody or indeed suit everybody, but for me it is way preferable than near constant pain.

The above is a long term self regulated solution. For a quick fix the Hoegarten out of the knee is good and a Kenelog injection in the sole of the foot will have you at the disco this evening.

Would recommend you have a look at www.worldwidehealthcover.com. You can get prices on a range of policies and compare the benefits to choose what suits you best. International policies offer a range of benefits that local policies do not, so I would urge looking carefully.

There is no issue with your visa type when applying for medical insurance. It is however worth bearing in mind that with the majority of the local companies (possibly even all) that your cover will cease if you leave Thailand whereas this is not true of an international policy.

Personally, I am in agreement with the majority of the posters on this topic that with a young family, it is extremely foolhardy to go without medical insurance. The potential savings are not very great and the potential costs, particularly of an unforeseen accident, are extremely high!

There are a number of sensibly priced policies available (and an even bigger amount of silly priced ones). It is easy enough to see the cost and do the risk/reward analysis for yourself. Take a look at www.worldwidehealthcover.com and see for yourself and if you need assistance, just contact these guys via their website. At your age you can get an excellent policy, with international coverage, for around $1,000 - less if you accept a small deductible.

Best of luck

There are a number of Thai policies, some good and some less so.  Most however will not provide any cover outside of Thailand so if you are thinking of doing a bit of travelling during your retirement or going back to visit your home country, I would suggest you have a look at an international policy. Many of these also offer better cover at a lower price than the Thai only option.  

You can find a wide range of plans and do a price / benefit comparison here www.worldwidehealthcover.com. 

The decision as to whether to get health insurance or not is a very personal one. Most people like to think they will never get sick, but the reality is that some are right, some are not and you may well be one of the unlucky ones! Statistically, 50% of people between 60 and 70 will require a hospital stay which is likely to be expensive.

Another reality of living in Thailand (Bangkok in particular) is the high chance of being involved in an accident which is very likely to be expensive. Having an insurance card in your wallet could be the (life saving) difference to being taken off to hospital in a timely manner and being delayed whilst your ability to pay is established.

I have seen numerous posts on this topic that talk about getting travel insurance and repatriating to the home country in the event of needing some medical procedure. The reality of that is that travel insurance only provides essential cover for medical emergencies and repatriation will only be provided when suitable medical facilities are not available locally. With the excellent level of medical care available in Thailand, it is safe to assume the latter is not going to happen and good luck with repatriating yourself following an encounter with a bus driven by a driver high on yaba, or even following a simple but unfortunately quite common heart attack!

As for cheap medical care in LOS, sure it is probably cheaper than your home country but take a look at the Bumrungrad hospital website under pricing/real cost estimates to get an idea of how much you might need to spend. Granted the Bumrungrad is top end but it is still quite a sobering read!

There are a number of comparison websites around that allow to get real-time quotes for a range of international health insurance policies and review the cover available. One I particularly like is www.worldwidehealthcover.com which not only provides price information, they also provide a comparative index of all the policies they offer based on the benefits provided. Surprisingly, they have several policies that provide international cover for a similar price to some of the local Thai polices, which are generally speaking quite limited and provide cover only in Thailand. For example, if we take NangrongJ, who states he is 58, no health probs, fit and healthy, and runs on average 5 km most days. For international cover there are a selection of policies available from approximately B20,000 up, which is approximately B55 per day. Hardly a huge amount for the peace of mind!

Have a look at this site www.worldwidehealthcover.com They are based in Bangkok and offer a quick and easy comparison of many international policies together with a comparative index of the different benefits of each, so you can choose the best plan for your needs and budget