xylophone

For a start, 240,000 baht a year premium for your wife is a pretty hefty price, and it seems like it is only in-patient treatment anyway.

But that's beside the point, because you have to decide whether you want health insurance or life insurance, although some policies can mix the two, it can become an expensive exercise.

At your age, health insurance which will cover things like hospital stays and a stroke, for example, will not be that expensive (around 50,000 baht and less as an example???) And you can get cover for up to 5 million baht and more if you want to pay a higher premium.

In my day, the main reason for taking out life insurance was that if you were the breadwinner and you died, then your dependents (as well as the mortgage) would be taken care of with the insurance pay-out, but that doesn't seem to be what you're looking for.

I have health insurance here through a Aetna, although there are others around which are cheaper (Pacific Cross for example) so have a good look round to see what is on offer, and I have an arrangement whereby I pay my premiums on a monthly basis straight from my bank, which makes life a little easier in these times of uncertainty.

Good luck.

23 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Of course he was wearing a mask. Visiting Walter Reed Veterans hospital raising the moral of the wounded Vets while Biden cowers in his basement. 

 

MAGA 

You mean just like he boosted the morale of the US vets when he denigrated US war hero John McCain.

So the draft dodger is boosting the morale of the service which he "refused" to enter, and then later on called out John McCain for being captured!

There are no words to describe this despicable, lying coward.

2 minutes ago, JensenZ said:

 The virus was already in the US and spreading by December at the latest. It was always going to be too late. Trump is advised by top virologists and THEY told him a lockdown was not necessary. You should be vilifying them, not Trump.

Wrong........trump has consistently shown that he listens to nobody, very often contradicting Fauci et al.

I'm sure his "top virologists" didn't suggest injecting disinfectant or having an internal UV light treatment??

You are trying to defend the indefensible, because the facts are well known, but you cannot seem to see or understand them.........and you seem to have overlooked the fact that trump said there were only 60 cases in the US in February and those numbers were falling, but according to you the virus was "spreading" by late December.

And you may recall this............."We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine."

At the start of February, having been convinced by his staff to announce restrictions on travel from China, Trump said the problem had been dealt with. On February 2, he told Fox News host Sean Hannity partial travel ban had "pretty much shut it down".

He lies so consistently, with lies upon lies that even he doesn't know what he is saying or has said. Disgusting excuse for a human being.

37 minutes ago, JensenZ said:

Add in the other Democratic states and you'll have an incredibly high percentage of deaths at the hands of bungling Democrats.

If it's facts you want then you will like the following............

Back in January, when US intelligence agencies first started to warn Donald Trump about the threat the virus posed, his instinct was to brush it off.

Trump did not want to spook the financial markets. Even after China finally acknowledged there was significant human-to-human transmission of the virus, he consistently downplayed the danger.

On January 22, CNBC asked the President whether he was worried about the virus becoming a pandemic.

"No, not at all," he said.

"We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine."

At the start of February, having been convinced by his staff to announce restrictions on travel from China, Trump said the problem had been dealt with. On February 2, he told Fox News host Sean Hannity partial travel ban had "pretty much shut it down".

On February 14, he suggested the virus would simply go away as the United States headed into its summer months.

"There's a theory that, in April, when it gets warm – historically, that has been able to kill the virus," said Trump.

By February 26, there were 60 confirmed cases in the United States, and that number was rising steadily. "We're going down, not up. We're going very substantially down, not up," Trump claimed, contradicting his own administration's health officials.

In the annals of the American presidency, it would be hard to recall a more catastrophically wrong prediction.

"As they get better, we take them off the list, so that we're going to be, pretty soon, at only five people. And we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time."

He also compared the coronavirus to influenza.

Trump repeatedly downplayed the virus and dismissed fears about its potential spread in the United States as media "hysteria".

He did this until mid-March, when he finally started to take the pandemic seriously – and abruptly switched to claiming he had known how bad it was all along.

"I've always known this is a, this is a real, this is a pandemic," he said on March 16.

"I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.

"I've always viewed it as serious."

That simply was not true. As other world leaders did their best to prepare for the crisis, Trump pretended there was nothing to worry about.

The spread of the virus (and the fact that trump merely dismissed it as a flu) and the deaths of thousands of Americans are as a result of trumps lies and bungling. 

Now those are facts.

3 minutes ago, lanng khao said:

A few special lukchins would be getting fed to that dog if that was my daughter..

I can only guess what that name is, however when a similar thing happened to my daughter, although she wasn't bitten, but very frightened by the savage dog nearby who did "attack" her, I did manage to conjure up a large sausage containing all sorts of nasties (won't post exactly what here because it might upset folks) and it went to the kennel in the sky the next day.

Also stopped me, and others, being harassed by it when on our motorbikes.

On 7/6/2020 at 8:15 AM, Estrada said:

The far right white supremacists, like Donald Trump's father, the Bush family and other Republicans were supporting Hitler from the 30s and helped Hitler rise to power. Companies such as Standard Oil (Bush family) supplied oil, General Motors and Ford supplied vehicles, IBM supplied machines, others supplied aircraft designs and aeroengines. Without the United States far-right and American Nazi Party support there not have been for so many soldiers to have died and without fuel and badly need financial and armanent support I doubt if there would have been a WWII. The United States only switched sides on December 7th 1941 after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The States (The most successful, creative and tolerant ethnicity). have been waging war all over the world since the 17th century almost without stop. Many of the wars were against the American Indians, the Mexicans (where they grabbed hold of part of Mexico which is now California) and other territories in the South which were Spanish or French. And Trump's supporters demand that the peoples of the South who speak Spanish should speak English! Trump wants to invade Iran, but is in love with Kim Jong Eun so he is off the list. I was recruited by the U.S. Army as part of the Iraq invasion force and was in Libya when they decided to topple Ghadafi on a made up charge. I got the warning from Haliburton that they intended to take Ghadafi down. Most of the wars have been to attack countries with huge oil reserves such as Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya and currently focused on Venezuela. Osama Bin Laden worked for the United States and was trained by the CIA to form a terrorist fighting group to fight the Russians in Afghanistan. This later became Al Qaeda and led to 9/11 and also gave rise to ISIS/ISIL. Trump and Pompeo have investments in arms manufacturers such as Raytheon (Mother of All Bombs etc) He needs war to line his pockets and those of his supporters. P.S. There is no "Radical Far-left in the United States. The ideals of the Dems are no different to the right of centre, Tory party in the UK and other parts of Europe. Trump must lose "Biggly".

 

I had to comment on your post because I think it really does have to be one of the best that I have seen on here, and you served for your country, much more than the lying, "bone-spurs" did.

And you are spot on when you say, "There is no "Radical Far-left in the United States. The ideals of the Dems are no different to the right of centre, Tory party in the UK and other parts of Europe".

It is trump's way of trying to divide the nation, pure and simple.

On 7/6/2020 at 10:02 AM, Paul Henry said:

I think the puppet masters write Trumps speeches and he has no idea of the content or the message being sent. Like the uneducated person he is he delivers the speech without any knowledge of the true content.

Well up until now I thought it was just trump who was ignorant and stupid, but if it is the "puppet masters" who are writing this stuff, then perhaps it's them as well.

Not only that, it has always amazed me how the Republicans support trumps spoken and written rubbish, so it shows that they must be ignorant as well, this especially when you consider the following: –

– The atom was split by New Zealander Ernest Rutherford, despite trump saying that the US had split the atom!

– Scotsman Alexander Graham Bell worked on and invented the first workable telephone.

– trump also claimed that the US settled the Wild West, with the phrase sparking criticism for erasing history and Native Americans. He should have said, "colonised and all but eradicated an already established population of humans".

– As for winning the two world wars, well they certainly played a vital part in both wars but the US only joined World War I nearly 3 years after it started because Germany sank several US merchant ships. In World War II the US again tried to remain neutral but joined the war in its final years after the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

Why all of the lying, all of the deceit, all of the plainly wrong retelling of history? Why oh why does this have to be the case from a once respected nation? 

How the Republicans can stand by and do nothing about the lies uttered by this sad excuse for a human being, is beyond belief.
 

14 hours ago, Crazy Alex said:

Well of course.... how could any decent human being, much less president of the United States, NOT address the massive numbers of leftist savages roaming the streets rioting, looting, assaulting and pillaging?

Well let's get one thing right, and that is that trump has proven time and time again that he is far less then a "decent human being".....pu$$y grabbing, stealing from a charity and thousands of lies makes sure that he doesn't qualify for a "decent" tag.

But one thing that puzzles me about some people on here who refer to the people who do not support trump, is that they constantly refer to the Democrats or non-trump supporters, as fascists, savages, thugs etc.

Whereas I had always thought that trump with his right wing leanings would be the one who qualifies as a fascist, and also therefore his followers who also engage in much the same sort of shenanigans as quoted in your post, not to mention pointing rifles and guns at people, but that's a different matter for another time.

Fascism is described thus: Opposed to liberalism, Marxism, and anarchism, fascism is placed on the far right within the traditional left–right spectrum. 

The left leans towards socialism, whereas the right leans towards ultra nationalism, dictatorial power (as in that which trump is trying to implement) and other unsavoury aspects.

Quite why, especially on this thread/forum, centrists, liberals and those who do not like trump, are labelled fascists and savages is a mystery, but then again perhaps it all leads back to the trump right wing leanings!

19 minutes ago, ChasingTheSun said:

There seems to be three similar topics on the Phuket board for Phuket status/outlooks/wakes etc, so i will post this in each. Apologies if you read it elsewhere already....

 

There is allot of negativity on this thread picking on Phuket during this china flu bug season. Please keep in mind, EVERYWHERE in the world that still has a lockdown is suffering bigly. Not just Phuket.

 

ANYWHERE In the world that is tourism reliant has been hit especially  hard.

Things will bounce back to normal in Phuket and elsewhere faster than you would imagine once the lockdowns are lifted.

 

In addition, there is a fast-growing realization and consensus globally that the kungflu is really just a nasty flu season, and not worthy of any general lockdown. Many are calling the whole China flu hysteria a hoax, and just a power grab.
 

At most, this nasty flu is worthy of special precautions for the elderly 70+  and those with certain co-morbidities. Unfortunately and obviously, those specific folks need to be locked-down or only venture outside to the reopened world at their own risk, until an effective treatment or vaccine is found.
 

Indeed, Thailands perceived (current) success at keeping the (tested) virus levels low is actually a huge draw for even more tourists to come once the lockdowns end. 
 

It sucks if your income has been severely impacted by the lockdowns, but those who can hang-on for a little while longer will see the light at the end of the tunnel. There will be new businesses opening where old ones went under.
 

Things will get back to a new normal, and hopefully that new normal will be even better than the old one.

 

 

 

I have to say that I do admire your optimism, whereas I do believe the negative posts, including mine, paint a more realistic and likely picture.

As others have posted, even before the virus, the supposed "high seasons" here which were, many moons ago, enough to sustain the bars and businesses through the low seasons, have not eventuated for a few years now, and I know this because I have a few friends who own bars and businesses.

The days of the sois being packed to the gunwales with tourists eager to spend their money on booze and girls, tailed off sometime around 2011/12 and never stopped, apart from the occasional flurry, which gave false hope to many.

Again, those of us who have been here for a while would ask the question, "what have the local authorities done to improve Patong, its infrastructure, facilities and tourist well being?". And the answer begins with an N.

If one takes into consideration the fact that businesses here and around the world have closed, many folks are unemployed or on reduced wages, and bills and debts will have been piling up, then I doubt very much whether a trip to Patong would be number one on their list, although for a few lucky ones it might well be, but not enough to take Patong back to the halcyon days, if indeed it ever gets back there.

I won't go into the discussion about whether the virus is one thing, or another, because no matter which way you look at it, over half a million people have died of it with hundreds of thousands more being made seriously ill, with some of the symptoms lasting for many months after they seem to have fought off the virus.

Of course I would dearly love to be wrong, mainly because as I said, I have friends who have businesses here, but having seen the gradual decline over the past years, the virus may well have been the last straw, and this does not mean that Patong will close, but that it will be a shadow of its former self and quite how the small businesses will survive, is a mystery.

2 hours ago, MyTHaiMyKe said:

Because I know President Trump is smarter and better than all of yours put together! 

In that case, remind me not to believe anything you say.

1 hour ago, rvaviator said:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/when-trumps-understanding-of-the-world-is-flipped-on-its-head/613840/

Interesting viewpoint

A superbly written and elucidated article, great work.

On 6/27/2020 at 7:07 PM, Stadtler said:

Who can help Stadtler?

A psychiatrist perhaps?

1 hour ago, riclag said:

Respectfully,I think you might be just a little mistaken!Let me help you! 

What my country has seen recently is peaceful protests turn into mob rule!

Mr. Trump must expose the organizations and people who support the cancel culture, that has feasted long before he came to office !

Oh do give it a rest, especially when you are saying that "what my country has seen recently is peaceful protests turn into mob rule", this because such things have been ongoing for many decades in the USA.

Peaceful protests have turned violent, the police have been responsible for unnecessary beatings and deaths, statues have been defaced, and one particular demonstration which I found to be absolutely disgusting, was where white people were screaming, hissing and spitting at a black person because they were being escorted to a white school.

This has been endemic within the USA for decades/centuries, as I said, and sadly demonstrations there and around the world have turned violent, or have been hijacked by an unruly element, or even paid unruly elements, so this is just history repeating itself.

Unfortunately it has gained momentum because of the unlawful killing of black folk of late, and the grievances that these people have against law enforcement officers that have brutalised them for decades has become something much bigger, now it is a need to be able to respect blacks, and this has mushroomed into something that encompasses their grievances from the past until today.

Mob rule has been around forever and the problem here is that trump and his divisive rhetoric is just stoking the fires, so a divisive president is getting exactly what he wants.

This is not a "left-wing cultural revolution" but a bringing to the fore of grievances that have been unanswered and unsettled.