Etaoin Shrdlu

I have an iPad Air 2 that I purchased in 2015 and it still works just fine, although it is no longer eligible for upgrades to newer versions of the operating system. Although I have not had any issues with my iPad Air, other family members have experienced failures of other Apple products and i would suggest considering purchasing the Apple Care option that extends the warranty and provides some accidental damage protection. We purchase apple products directly from Apple's Thai website. They are sent from Apple's facilities in China or Singapore and arrive in just a few days via DHL if they are in stock.

This approach isn't unique to Kasikorn Bank. Many non-US mutual funds will not allow sales to US citizens or green card holders because that can trigger US reporting requirements even though the mutual fund has no other connection to the US. It looks like Kasikorn wishes to at least screen applicants manually to eliminate this potential issue.

Yes, my daughter, age 16, received her first Pfizer vaccination Monday.

Some years ago Etisalat, one of the two mobile phone companies in the UAE, distributed an unexplained software "update" to its subscribers. It was widely speculated that it was some sort of surveillance software. Perhaps it can circumvent or break the WhatsApp encryption.

Mrs. Shrdlu has just advised me that there was a meeting this evening and the PM has decided to abandon the quarantine for fully vaccinated arrivals that have negative PCR tests prior to departure and a negative antigen test on arrival. Waiting to see if this is true.

My wife has a similar approach to Covid safety, although perhaps not quite as extreme. She also won't accept Sinopharm, Sinovax or AstraZenica and is waiting until the Moderna we ordered back in July arrives.

My children all attended (one still in high school) international school here with all instruction, except Thai language and culture classes, taught in English. While fluent in Thai, because they studied core courses in English their Thai lacks the much of the vocabulary and writing capability associated with Thai academics and I think they would struggle if they had to attend a Thai university other than one with an international program with English instruction. If your child wishes to pursue a medical or other professional-track degree in a Thai university, I think it would be difficult to do so without having taken core courses in Thai. My eldest daughter, currently on pre-med track at university in the US, flatly states that she would not have been able to pursue a medical degree here due to language issues. My second daughter and my son, both also at university in the US, have similar opinions about their ability to perform academically in a Thai university other than in an international program.

And when everyone is vaccinated, the vaccinated will be the only ones in hospital. This does not mean that the vaccines don't reduce hospitalizations and deaths. Simple matter of numbers, not vaccine efficacy.

I worked for many years in the Thai insurance market. The insurers with which my employer had distribution agreements paid claims according to the terms and conditions of their policies. Perhaps it was because if the did not, they would no longer do business with the firm. That does not mean there were not disputes about claims, but the denials did not go without explanation or reference to the terms and conditions of the policy in question or meaningful discussions as to differences in opinion as to matters of fact. You are correct that the regulatory environment here is less stringent than in many developed countries, but it is accessible and the regulator will deal fairly with complaints. And yes, even in developed countries there are disputes regarding claims.

I don't question your experience with Thai insurers when it comes to claims. Again, a good broker will advise their clients which insurers have a good track record with respect to claims payments and those that don't. Having a client represented by a good (and large) broker also can bring clarity of mind to insurers when considering whether to pay or deny a claim. When working for an insurer, I frequently heard "who is the broker" when a claim was escalated to management internally.

We had a similar situation last month when we had to take our son to Suvarnabhumi for a flight departing at 23:30 hours. We called the police to see what, if any, documentation was required for travel past curfew. We were advised that a copy of son's ticket and passport would be sufficient in the event we were stopped after curfew on the way back. We were in Bangkok, so we did not have a long journey, but we were not stopped. You'll want to arrange this in advance and confirm all details with the taxi driver or the taxi company when you make the booking. Good luck.

The insurance industry is highly regulated and almost all insurers will pay claims exactly in accordance with the terms and conditions of their policies. There are instances in which an insurance company may act in bad faith, but those situations are quite rare. Regulators take an extremely dim view of anything that looks like bad faith and insurers, believe it or not, are concerned about bad publicity and getting a bad reputation. They also don't want to be dragged into the regulator's office. The Office of the Insurance Commissioner is generally consumer-friendly and anyone with a complaint will get a fair hearing, including foreigners. In my opinion, disappointment with insurance stems most often from the following situations: 1) The policyholder does not fully understand what their policy actually says, covers and excludes. 2) The policyholder is unaware of their obligations under their policy, especially their duty to fully disclose all material facts when forming a contract of insurance. 3) Difficulty in providing the documentation required by insurers when submitting their claim. 4) Genuine and legitimate differences of opinion regarding factual issues surrounding a claim. With respect to the first three items above, a good insurance broker can and should help the policyholder understand their policy and its limitations, the obligations of the insured and the documents needed in order to establish proof of loss at claims time. This is best done early on, and in the case of items 1 and 2, prior to the order to bind coverage. Number 4 is a bit more difficult. A good insurance broker will advocate for his client at claims time. If the broker places a sizable amount of business with the insurer, the broker may have enough influence to get a difficult claim paid that may otherwise get denied or to reverse a denial. If this is not sufficient and the policyholder wishes to escalate the matter, approaching the regulator is the next most appropriate step. Ultimately, if still no favorable resolution is forthcoming, the policyholder can always take the insurer to court. Going to court is expensive, time-consuming and there is no guarantee of a favorable outcome for either party. Insurance is an area in which there is asymmetric information and resources and the consumer is usually the one with the short end of the stick. An insurance broker can help reduce the gap and in many cases provide advice that may limit disappointment later on. Insurers have no obligation to provide a policyholder with advice. To paraphrase a saying from the legal profession, anyone who deals directly with an insurer has a fool for a broker.

Commercial health insurance provides a poor solution for real risk transfer when one gets older and starts to have chronic medical conditions associated with aging. Exclusions for pre-existing conditions, no guaranteed renewal at expiry and the ability to increase premiums and add additional exclusions at each renewal all make commercial health insurance problematic. Foreign insurers in general usually do better than Thai insurers, although there are Thai insurers that do a reasonable job. The only way to remove the possibility of an insurer, including a foreign insurer, invoking the pre-existing condition clause for undetected conditions would be to have the exclusion deleted from the policy by endorsement or to have the exclusion limited to the pre-existing conditions specifically listed in the policy's declarations section. I am not sure whether any insurer would be willing to do this. Beware of any insurer offering coverage without requiring a physical exam, especially if you are older. These insurers will be underwriting their policy via their claims department, something that is considered unprofessional but common in some markets. From an underwriting perspective it becomes difficult to profitably insure a population that has a great propensity to incur large medical bills and commercial insurers are in business to make money. In the US the insurer of last resort, the taxpayer, takes on the task of providing medical insurance for over-65s in the form of Medicare. Even this program has its limitations and some cost-shifting back to the participant. There really is no attractive solution for most when it comes to insuring medical expenses when we get older if we cannot participate in government schemes.

I wonder if perhaps he holds Cypriot citizenship under his birth name, Hun Bunal.

Ownership of a Thai company is not a requirement for PR. Being employed with a work permit and paying taxes for three consecutive years on the same extension of stay is. There is also a minimum salary level.

My wife successfully applied for a tourist visa about three years ago. She applied so that we could accompany our daughter to start university in the US. The interviewer was more interested in knowing if I had strong ties to Thailand and asked my wife for whom I worked, how long I had lived in Thailand and the like. The interviewer wanted to see my passport, but my wife did not have it with her. She was also asked if our daughter is a US citizen. The interviewer had no interest in seeing any of my wife's financial documents, property deeds or anything else related to her situation. It seems that in the case of applying for a tourist visa for a Thai spouse, the US spouse's connections to Thailand are very important.

A similar situation occurred in the gated community I live in, also a L&H development. A house was abandoned during construction and sat vacant for around 20 years. The weeds and trees took over the garden and the building ruin just sat there. Eventually the bank (or whoever had title to the property) managed to find a buyer and the place has been under reconstruction for the past nine months or so. It was quite an eyesore, but now it is nearing completion and looks very nice. I don't think the community's juristic entity has the authority to authorize or undertake any work on the premises. The only party that could have done that was the owner or someone with the legal right to act on the owner's behalf. The house literally sat there untouched for about 20 years. There was also an abandoned pickup truck parked in front of the house and it sat there deteriorating for the whole time until the new owner of the house had it hauled away. As far as I could tell, nobody touched the place for almost twenty years.

It might be worthwhile to dig a bit deeper to see what Cigna's intent really is. Did the policy originally contain a pre-existing condition exclusion and did Cigna issue an endorsement deleting it? Or does the Cigna policy limit the pre-existing exclusion clause to conditions specifically stated in the declarations section of the policy? If not, and the original pre-existing exclusion remains in the policy, then Cigna could still invoke it and deny a claim if they believed the condition existed prior to the commencement of the policy.

This is something that is learned early on when working in the insurance industry. It is frequently necessary to calculate a gross premium (one that includes the broker's commission) from a net premium with the commission being a specified percentage of the gross premium. We called it "grossing up for commission" but it probably has a more elegant name in the world of math.

Some non-Thai health or travel insurance policies will not cover the government-mandated hospitalization of asymptomatic or mild cases that a positive Covid test will attract here in Thailand. Foreign policies usually only cover medically necessary treatment and will not pay for what is essentially a Thai public health mandate. Be sure to ask about this if you pursue non-Thai coverage and want to cover this risk.

Because she might become a hooker?

There are a number of insurance brokers that can help with corporate property and casualty insurance programs. Don't try to do it yourself directly with insurers, find a good broker to help you. Some of the larger multinational brokers have units that help SMEs, so you might want to contact Marsh, Aon or Lockton. They have offices here. If they are not able to meet your needs, there are smaller insurance brokerage companies that can do a good job for SMEs and which may be a better fit for your business. PM me if you want me to suggest someone.

I will grant that Pfizer's and Moderna's Covid vaccines employ the newer mRNA technology and vaccines using this method haven't been in general use for very long. I am not convinced there is a long-term risk in using these vaccines, but apparently some believe there may be. Protein subunit vaccines have been in use for decades and are routinely used to vaccinate against hepatitis, shingles and whooping cough and their safety is not in question in the medical community. Novavax uses this technology in their Covid-19 vaccine. If some people were really concerned about the mRNA vaccines simply due to the use of newer technology, they should not have a problem getting vaccinated with Novavax. But I don't hear "I'm leery of the mRNA vaccines and am waiting for Novavax because it uses older, proven technology". What I hear is unfounded fear of all Covid vaccines, or even all vaccines, whipped up by conspiracy theorists and people with political agendas.

100,000/(1.0-0.08) = 108,695