StevieAus

4 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Let's see... 300 million a year in unpaid hospital bills... (maybe!)

 

vs potentially 3.8 billion in revenues from the proposed tourist tax

 

And what exactly kind of coverage are these Thailand travelers going to get for their 100 baht???

 

BTW, it doesn't seem to specify any particular kind of arrival/visa class... So presumably, either on entry or exit, they're planning to charge any and all foreigners, including long-term expats here who may already have insurance.... 

 

I didn't see any mention of any exemption for O-A visa holders who likely will be subject to the new and much more expensive insurance requirement of their own.  Or any plan to drop the O-A specific proposal in favor on this broader, more reasonably priced alternative.

 

The article refers to tourists presumably those living here long term utilizing marriage visas, retirement extensions work permits etc are not tourists

There is no mention of how it would be collected so why jump to conclusions that are not there.

Even if the above groups were charged the 100 baht it would hardly break the bank.

16 hours ago, bannork said:

Probably true in a lot of Western countries.

Nothing to do with vets and babies but an example of why the West can be so boring.

1. On a bus to Cornwall 2 weeks ago, the driver told a passenger with a hot drink to dispose of it at once as he could be sued if it spilled on the passenger.

2. Approaching the bus stop with a suitcase on wheels and a shoulder bag, the bus began to pull away but stopped after a council worker saw me and shouted at the driver to stop. The bus driver then get a bollocking from an official on the bus about how he wasn't insured to stop for me after the bus stop (3 metres), and he must never do that again.

The West can be so dull.

I think it’s generally called political correctness or maybe Nanny State.

Exactly the same in Australia it was on my list of reasons for deciding to leave and live here.

17 hours ago, Mansell said:

I was just on vacation in Vietnam. That country looks like a good option if things don't work out here. I enjoyed paying much less for very good Mexican and Indian food there. Taxis in DaNang were very cheap and a quick way to get around. I might try to get a long stay in a hotel there as the breakfasts are amazingly good with many options. This was my fourth time there and I actually think it is better than Thailand.....and this mandatory health might be the final straw. Even the wife and kids loved the place, but her working there might not be possible. Everybody spoke to her in Vietnamese as they thought she was one of them. And it was cooler there.

Did you check out the standard of health care there , interesting that you base the cost of living on what you pay for Mexican and Indian food.

I live in Chiang Mai Province and renewed my 5 year license about 2 months ago 

If I wanted to use the yellow house book and pink ID card they would only give me a two year license so had to get the residency certificate from Immigration.

On 5/18/2019 at 1:11 PM, wwest5829 said:

While not a conspiracy type, I do wonder if these countries are collectively beginning to turn attention to the number of their own citizens from the working middle class, out priced in their own countries who flee for retirement in lower cost countries. Australia and British retirees have already experienced some negative steps dissuading them for spending their retirement incomes offshore. I have no doubts that if the American Republicans seize on this, they too would try to penalize offshore retirees. I had already had a FB commentator refer to me as not having an equal citizen voice in US political opinions as I had "defected" by living in another country.

What negative steps have Australian retirees experienced to dissuade them from spending their retirement incomes offshore?

I am not aware of any.

3 minutes ago, outsider said:

 

Yup. Thailand is run by infantiles and people with mental and maturity levels of five-year-olds.

 

Years ago they used to have problems at certain times of the year with partially treated sewage being washed up on Sydney’s beaches. They solved the problem by pumping it further out to sea.

 Now that is a really smart solution !!!

9 hours ago, mike787 said:

...add to that how much you lose when calculating if you were to put 800/400K in a conservative 6-8% return over 5,10,15,20 years, passively managed mutual fund with low fees that tracks the global markets, you will see how stupid it is to give your money to Thai banks as a free loan.  Reality, it's called money laundering.  Enjoy your stay in LOS.

Use the income method instead, 

On 10/28/2012 at 2:51 PM, mamborobert said:

Never a truer word spoken.

It took wifey two years to actually believe that I really did not care if she went out for a few hours to visit friends/shop/dentist appointment etc and that I would still be home when she came back, and that her going out was not going to automatically mean that I would be out the door looking for wifey mark 2.

For a while I thought I had two shadows.

In that two years she pressed me for a house (grand sum of 600 000 baht by the way) in San Kampeng. I am not sure of this was low expectations of my net worth or a desire to certainly have "something" to fall back on when I perhaps left her for god knows what (top of my list would probably be a well done steak dianne and a good Margaret River Cab Sav).

Not getting into the "all Thai husbands are bad" argument at all. I know some terrific marriages and some duds...and the Farang/Thai relationships to my mind are no different (an perhaps reflect on a concurrent post concerning the lack of planning/funds some have when moving to CM) .

Certainly makes you think what is the cause of this uncertainty. I am leaning towards this lack of confidence reflects their observations/experiences of husbands in general (in Thailand), the lower standing of woman across all social levels, and the changing nature of Thai society, in particular smaller family sizes with aspirational children coupled with rising costs and increased life expectancy, where children can no longer be relied upon to be a defacto retirement fund.

I will vote for your comments on most of the above, except the well done Steak Dianne what a waste of a good steak unless of course ( god forbid) you are using local beef, prefer no more than medium.

Would be happy with the wine or a decent red from virtually anywhere in Aus.

8 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

You're not standing for PM of Australia though.

People married to foreign women half their age do not represent the normal people in their country.

Same as childless women do not represent the general population.

It's a clear conflict of interests (or indication of sexual aberration).

The point you miss is what is wrong with marrying someone from another country Australia is full of couples where one or the other is from another country

Why should people not marry someone of half their age if both agree and as far as a sexual aberration I think it is you who are suffering some sort of aberration to make such a comment.

Or is it because a woman half your age wouldn’t want you

On 5/12/2019 at 12:42 PM, BritManToo said:

Cameron ........ pigs head.

May ................. no children.

Farage ........... imported wife.

Corbyn ........... 2nd imported wife. 

 

No normal people in politics these days, in the UK or anywhere else.

Sometimes I really wonder how they can claim to 'represent the people'.

I married my Thai wife in Australia so according to your definition she was imported.

Now we live in Thailand does she cease to be an imported wife and I become an imported husband ?

17 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Yes.

 

Virtually everything is covered. A few very new or rare medications or tests not yet on the standard list are about all that is not. And hemodialysis is restricted to patients unable to do peritoneal dialysis.

 

They have to use the government hospital which covers the area where they are listed in a tabian ban. That hospital can as necessary refer them to higher level or more specialized hospitals but they must get the referral letter for it to be covered.

 

It is well worth choosing  where you live with an eye to the level/quality of the hospital. The best situation is to live in the ampur where a regional level hospital is located. Second best is to be in any other Ampur Muang (provincial capital). Living further out you may have to utilize a community level hospital as first point of call and  their capacities are limited so you end up having to constantly get referrla letters to go elsewhere.

 

And make sure your family are not still listed in tabian bans in some other province far away...not unusual as Thais dislike having to deal with the bureaucracy so often don't change their listing when they move,It will be a problem when they need medical care. Change the listing to where you actually live.

I don’t think that is correct even when you are listed at your local hospital there are services for which you have to pay.

My sister in laws brother recently had to pay for a stent to be fitted at a large public hospital in Chiang Mai after suffering a heart attack and being taken there by ambulance after treatment at the local hospital.

Her mother had to pay for a CT scan after cancer treatment and the sister in law and her brother are members of a Higher level government scheme.

Going back a few years ago and the so called 30 baht scheme was in operation I took my wife’s grandmother to the local hospital for dialysis treatment and each time we paid.

Others have told me of various treatments for which they had to pay in government hospitals.

9 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Holding passports to ransom is normal practice in LoS, particularly in tourist hot spots.

If this is the case then why are the hospitals not being paid?

On the occasions I have visited both private and public hospitals in Thailand I have never been asked to surrender my passport I have been treated and asked to pay at the end.

Perhaps I have an honest face or not considered fit enough to do a runner !!

31 minutes ago, Kay McDonnell said:

Does anyone know which other countries in the world, have this mandatory rule for foreigners?

The difference is that apart from some countries in this region I cannot think of any Western countries including my own Australia where a fifty year old with the equivalent of 800, 000 baht in the bank can just turn up and live there therefore the issue doesn’t arise

Unless you are a refugee or asylum seeker you have to go through a very rigorous process to obtain residency which as we often read on this site often isn’t granted.

If you are successful you are then entitled certainly in Australia to free treatment.

For others who are visiting they have to pay.

4 hours ago, Mitkof Island said:

Or over sixty . Confused yet ? And even if you had the insurance is the company going to pay anything when the time comes ? I do not trust insurance companies as far as i can toss them. Your just tossing money out the window. I will just save my money . Is insurance mandatory in Malaysia, Cambodia or Vietnam ? NO!

I wouldn’t be relying on receiving any decent medical treatment in Cambodia or Vietnam whether you have insurance or not.

Malaysia has an excellent hospital system but you are expected to pay as I understand do most of the locals.

I have just returned from a trip to Melaka where I fell ill requiring outpatient treatment.

The service and treatment was excellent but I was asked to produce my passport which was returned after I had paid the bill.

Maybe this a policy that should be adopted by Thailand to deal with the non payers.

4 hours ago, AlexRich said:

Property doesn’t always go up, that phenomenon in places in the west is a fairly new trend, when you look over several hundred years of data ... and those stagnant times could appear again. Thailand is another ball game all together ... you get a 30 year lease? As I said some may make money, but many others end up in a depreciating asset that is difficult to sell. 

I would be very interested to see data dealing with increases in the price of property in the west over the last several hundred years.

Who kept such records particularly as the UK Government didn’t record births deaths and marriages until about the 1800s.

I don’t know about property but land in the North here keeps increasing we have done ok with our investments

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

They were in Issan and Pattaya, I'm in CM.

Fair enough, but I am sure there is more than one good lawyer in Thailand I suspect that they thought with their hearts rather than their brains saw many cases in Aus as well over the years but for some reason in many cases common sense seems to leave expat males here,

8 hours ago, batata said:

you fall into the same hole as many of us did, investing in a property in Thailand thinking about the savings you will make while living there and looking into a future value appreciation... later realizing the difficulties of re-sale and the potential of being thrown out at any time without any consideration, in Thailand the best way of life is to rent, can leave any time without looking back

Thrown out, I know people who have lived here 40 years plus but they are honest, you must have some hidden past, and as far as property and land my Thai wife and I have made very good profits on our investments.

Sorry you live such. Sad life in this great land

3 hours ago, Wiggy said:

For me, the photo accompanying the article sums up the Thai police farce (sic) perfectly. Just a few plods wandering around aimlessly and completely clueless, with not even a notepad in sight. Utterly useless.

So Sherlock what do you expect them to do, the lady obviously doesn’t know the guy, probably hasn’t got the rego of the motorbike.

The article states the police have interviewed some locals and will be examining CCTV footage, with this type of crime and without witnesses that’s about all that would happen in most countries, if you are lucky.

4 hours ago, RobbyXNorway said:

It is unfortunate that our (I'm Norwegian) young ladies are so naive about the world outside Scandinavia. Many believe that they can handle themselves and are "on par" with men if it comes to physical confrontations. Which is not true.

 

So, ladies, please dont go alone. And dont get stupid drunk or high. Take care of yourself. It's a crazy world out here.

 

Hope they catch the scumbag and crucify him.

That good advice should also be followed in many other countries

including my own Australia and from I read in the media a Scandinavian country close to your homeland.

23 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Depends on how much the place was worth, and if it could be resold.

Houses in my moobaan were sold new for 1.8Mbht 6 years back, 20% are now abandoned with no resale value at all.

I could get out of the bad air here in CM if I had only rented.

I also have several pals who bought a house in a woman's name and left with nothing.

I don’t think your several pals are too smart particularly if they live in CM where there is an excellent female lawyer I have used for many years as have many friends.

She would have protected their interests.

On 5/12/2019 at 8:05 AM, bkk6060 said:

Just another example of the lack of flexibility owning affords.

Which is why smart people rent....

This smart person and his wife don’t rent and have done very well out of land and property sales.

Also this smart person doesn’t break the law which is very smart.

7 hours ago, Paul Catton said:

Does the maid actually vacuum clean? Or perhaps, hand polishes the ornaments!  Couldn't resist.

Ours does also she washes the ornaments, polishes the furniture vacuums and washes the floors etc etc

At Thai rates great value

7 minutes ago, GreasyFingers said:

I have been living here for 6 years and submit a tax return every year through my accountant and have not had a problem. As others have said this may be illegal but who is to know until the tax office says something.

The statement above that everything in the government is linked is not necessarily true, or maybe not checked. I do not get the age pension, after 3 appeals, because Centrelink deem me to be a non resident but the tax office has not picked up on this.

I think you are correct there Centrelink seem to be linked to the Immigration system as I know a couple of friends resident in Aus who over the years have had certain benefits automatically reduced for periods they were overseas.