Cucuy

My guess is that that's what's holding them up. They simply can't settle on a simple way of verifying foreign insurance policies the way they can just look at money in the bank in Thailand for a visa

Like I said I’ve been using my oconus TRICARE insurance here in Thailand for several years at Bangkok hospital and they have always accepted it but I’ve been living here for years on marriage extensions. But I am retired here.

If medical  insurance becomes mandatory for all long term expats. Will Thai Immigration  accept TRICARE?

I will not be surprised if it is required for those on retirement extensions in the near future.

I don’t see why not it more than meets their standards and immigration said that foreign insurance policies would be accepted when they first started talking about it. But I don’t care I’ve been here for years on marriage extensions but I am retired here but regardless I know I’m covered either way with enough medical insurance.

I expect signing up "directly" with WU is better...cheaper.   When signing up via your Thai bank the bank obviously wants to get a fee also and they figure a person will pay extra for the convenience. 

I once wired some money to one of my former Soldiers who was medically discharged from the Army because he seriously injured his knee on a jump and he was just a PFC (E-3) at the time. He was one of my support people he was a mechanic. And he was having some financial problems after getting out of the Army because he got out young and he was having trouble transitioning into civilian life. So I lent him some money and I used Western Union at Bangkok Bank, Western Union is ok but their fees are a little high I remember but that was about 2 years ago now. Money Gram is cheaper to send money to someone. I always took care of my Soldiers whenever I did lead young Soldiers which I didn’t do very often throughout my 21 year career only a few because of the kind of job I had in the Army we didn’t have many young Soldiers where I mostly worked for most of my career. I still keep in touch with them on Facebook to make sure they are still doing ok. But WU is ok I’ve sent money here via WU a few times from here a few years ago.

But I’m not worried it’s a risk I’m willing to take, Dengue fever, malaria and other mosquito borne illnesses. You can’t be afraid of every little thing or I’d never get out and do anything. We’re all gonna die of something some day so I’m gonna go out and enjoy life regardless of risks. I’m still adventurous but not as adventurous as I used to be. I saw some pretty big mosquitos out there on the creek and Dengue fever and malaria did cross my mind out there. Oh well there’s not a big chance of getting it.

 

Damn it I was bit by a few mosquitos the other day at the creek here in Nakhon Ratchasima.

 

 

I bring in over 100,000 baht a month into Thailand which is just one of my income sources (VA pension income). I couldn’t imagine living here on less than at least 60,000 baht a month! But living here on less than 40,000 baht a month is very possible to do although if you’re retired would you really want to live on that little? Probably not I know we couldn’t maintain our standard of living on that little.

 

Sorry to hear all that. Best wishes.

The only thing that sucks about it is I can’t do all of the extreme stuff I used to love doing like long distance running, climbing mountains, jumping out of planes and other extreme physical activity. But I can still walk and swim so I still get decent exercise today but not like I used to do. But my oconus TRICARE does cover everything as far as inpatient stuff but I don’t know about outpatient stuff because for outpatient stuff I just go to the local clinic and pay out of pocket because it’s so cheap anyway.

Sorry to hear all that. Best wishes.

No actually it’s ok I’ve been doing pretty well lately but thanks for your concern.

It’s nice not having to go to the emergency room anymore every time my back flares up.

 

 

I’ve actually had chemotherapy 14 years ago I actually had cancer before but I’m ok now and when it happened to me I recovered extremely well. Within a year I was back to running marathons again after the cancer. I haven’t even had a follow up appointment or a CT scan in a few years in fact I’m over due for a CT scan and a colonoscopy now but my oconus TRICARE insurance will cover that expense whenever I decide to get that done again. Luckily when I was diagnosed with cancer I was assigned to the Washington, D.C. area at the time so I was lucky enough to get treated at Walter Reed hospital and those doctors were awesome.

 

 

Sure,  the munchies -- a godsend for someone who's being pumped full of poison. How can a body possibly heal without nutrition?

Well chemotherapy kills your white blood cells as well that’s the downside to it.

We were typing at the same time with the mention of it being effective for nausea. 

It’s also good for their apatite if they’re on chemotherapy.

Yes, there was no way I was going to take anymore chances with percocet. The nice thing about cannabis is that it can effectively help with nausea, and from what I understand, that's something the Big Pharma boys are still struggling with. 

 

That's a really tough history of injuries, and I'm sorry to hear of its extent. I hope you can find as much comfort and enjoyment as possible and also that your fellow countrymen appreciate the sacrifice you've made. 

 

Thank you I appreciate that. But I’m doing okay.

There you go.

But ever since I started taking Cannabis oil from my local government hospital which I paid for out of pocket I have never been in the hospital ever since for any of my serious back flare ups. Whenever I have a flare up instead of going to the hospital I just take a few Cannabis drops and within two hours I’m in a state of euphoria and I feel so much better the next morning. So lately I have not needed to go to the hospital which has been really nice and I’ve been able to get outdoors and do stuff lately. So Cannabis really does work but insurance won’t cover it and neither will my TRICARE insurance so I pay for it out of pocket but at least it’s cheap and it works great for a lot of things.

I remember once on Fort Bragg my wife was driving me back to the hospital for a post surgery follow up appointment and I was on Percocet at the time recovering from the surgery. And I remember puking my guts out out of the window of the passenger seat all up Butner Road. Marijuana actually helps prevent nausea that’s why it’s good for cancer patients on chemotherapy because it quenches their nausea and it puts them in a euphoric state.

 

 

It's great that you gave it a shot although you had no previous experience with the stuff. I use it, making my own oil-based edibles, and the only side effect I get from taking too much is a real good sleep and feeling a bit spacey the next morning.  

My only experience with opiates is when I broke my ankle badly. I didn't need any pain relief until a doctor botched the temporary splint he put on. Then I was given morphine, which had no effect, so I was given more. That didn't help either, so I was taken to X-ray, where they discovered the botched splint setting and had to knock me out to fix it. That required fentanyl and a strong sleeping medication to act as a general anesthetic. After I was actually put out for surgery some hours later and was being pushed out the door not long afterward, a nurse gave me two pills and told me to take them. Being spaced out, I didn't ask but then found out it was percocet. Within 20 minutes, I was puking violently and often, so they gave me a bed pan to puke into on the way home and a prescription for more percocet. All that stuff went into my system within 30 hours, and I was sick as a dog for 3 days. I never did fill the prescription and got by on cannabis and ibuprofen just fine.    

 

Oh yeah that Percocet will make you extremely nauseous! The first time I ever had it it made me puke as well I don’t like it. My dad was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam. I’m an Afghanistan and Iraq veteran I retired after 21 years of service. I joined in the 90’s and I retired over 5 years ago. I think opioids should only be given for the most extreme pain and mostly only in the hospital. Medical marijuana is perfect for minor injuries that cause chronic severe pain. I broke my back on 4 occasions in the military on jumps Airborne Operations, other training operations, in a car accident in training, in a helicopter crash, and in Afghanistan. Plus other issues. My back is really bad and I’m rated a 100% disabled veteran.

 

As for the purported notion that tourists are responsible for this dilemma - would have thought that the medical facilities would insist on their passport. Hence they may be blocked at immigration and forced to pay outstanding debts before departure. Nah every way you cut it - It's the older sickies that are bringing down the system. Thai's may be imperfect but they are not ignorant.

Whenever I go to the hospital they always ask to see my passport first. I always just show them the picture of my passport on my iPhone. But they always collect my name and passport number at the hospital every time.

Good man. I'm all for mandatory travel insurance as well. There are a few tourists that don't insure themselves. Just a crazy thing to do. But try to convince fellows that like to pull silly faces and write "war and peace" every time the speak about this topic.

Yeah if you’re living here without insurance you’re taking a big risk.

Honestly if you’re living here full time or even a tourist here you MUST HAVE insurance it’s extremely important. I’m just lucky because I have access to good and almost free insurance through oconus TRICARE because I’m retired military and that’s one of our retirement benefits. And my TRICARE does cover me at my local hospital I’ve been using my TRICARE insurance here for many years now. I’m retired military so it’s a little easier. But this rule is just for new retirement Visas not extensions anyway so it doesn’t even effect most people already living here on a retirement visa extension. But you really don’t want to find yourself here with a very serious illness or injury without insurance coverage it’s dangerous. I don’t think it should be a requirement for even a new retirement visa but maybe it should be because there are way too many uninsured expats here and uninsured tourists visiting here who end up in the hospital needing help fast.

 

I have my Thai bank account obviously but I’ve never looked into getting a credit card here because I don’t like using credit cards and I normally don’t need them.

 

I was thinking about doing the same thing because I’m still using the iPhone 6 Plus which is good enough for me. I had to buy a new one recently and I paid cash so I just got a new iPhone 6 Plus again because that’s all I need and it was only 11,000 baht. If I buy a new iPhone X it’s like 30,000 baht I believe. I could afford it but I don’t like paying that much money in one day just for a little iPhone so if I did buy an iPhone X I’d probably want to do it on credit and then just pay it off in 2 or 3 months quickly. But my wife and I both have the iPhone 6 Plus and that’s enough for me I don’t know if I need much more technology than that. A water proof iPhone would be nice.

 

How does credit work here anyway?

 

 

Thanks for the lowdown on your experience with it. Agreed that 1000 baht isn't a lot if you only need a little to be effective and it keeps you away from pills, especially opiates. 
 
Your mention that you're a disabled veteran reminded me that I had a neighbour in Na Jomtiem who was a US vet. He says he was subjected to experiments in the army, and as a result was left with debilitating pain in his hands. I was in his apartment one day, and he grabbed two medicine containers out of the fridge to show me what he was taking to cope with is pain One was morphine and the other was oxycodone. He hated taking them, so I hope he's found cannabis oil and it's working.  

The only experiments I’ve heard of were the Edgewood vets but that was way back in the day I wonder if your friend is one of those guys.

Thanks for the lowdown on your experience with it. Agreed that 1000 baht isn't a lot if you only need a little to be effective and it keeps you away from pills, especially opiates. 

 

Your mention that you're a disabled veteran reminded me that I had a neighbour in Na Jomtiem who was a US vet. He says he was subjected to experiments in the army, and as a result was left with debilitating pain in his hands. I was in his apartment one day, and he grabbed two medicine containers out of the fridge to show me what he was taking to cope with is pain One was morphine and the other was oxycodone. He hated taking them, so I hope he's found cannabis oil and it's working.  

 

Yeah I’ve had multiple permanent injuries and multiple surgeries and I’ve been on morphine and oxycodone before myself and I never want to be on that stuff again ever because it hooks you fast and it seriously messes up your stomach bad. Medical marijuana is a million times better for chronic pain. And it has no negative side effects as long as you don’t take too much it’s just better to take a little because it’s pretty powerful. But I’m new to Cannabis so I have no previous experience using Cannabis until now.

So one is safe from the Cannabis tests with a permit then too? That sounds great, ADHD is on the list.

You have to get registered at your local government hospital first.