jerrymahoney

I guess not an American.

I have limited personal assets.

So far. Still less than a year. Moved into the new house in June. But she is away a few days a week with her job so I have some quiet time.

I was just the opposite: I said that I will go through all the legalities up to the meeting and papers at the amphur office but I am not going through one of those village-type marriage ceremonies.

They say our love won't pay the rent 'Fore it's earned our money's all been spent -- but I Got You, Babe

Even if I decided to walk, I see no need for a divorce.

I married for a new house with a 25m swimming pool

It seems to me there are enough instances on here where a guy tells his Thai GF that they cannot get married because he is still married back in USofA, UK, etc. and his wife will not give him a divorce other than under unacceptable (to him ) terms. So even if you choose to move on, divorce is not always the best way to go.

It is not a reason to get married. It is a reason that, if I decide to walk, she gets nothing other than the most basic household expenses.

One reason I decided, or was willing, to get married for the first time anywhere in Thailand is because there is 'sin tua' being that property acquired before marriage is not common marital property, and for me that is everything.

The standard Part B premium amount in 2022 is $170.10 https://www.medicare.gov/your-medicare-costs/part-b-costs If you don't take Part B, and are willing to put up with a possible Part B enrollment penalty, or have a waiver for such penalty, you have $2040 per year to put toward health insurance in Thailand.

Wow it never occurred to me that was just a stock photo as -- the way he describes having the Thai female fauna wrapped around his finger -- a face like that made sense.

Well this site lists 5969 quotes from Oscar Wilde but the above isn't one of them. https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3565.Oscar_Wilde Maybe try this? https://quotefancy.com/quote/830656/Horace-People-hiss-at-me-but-I-applaud-myself-in-my-own-house-and-at-the-same-time “People hiss at me, but I applaud myself in my own house, and at the same time contemplate the money in my chest.”

Why? Since the PM is unelected, it doesn't apply to him.

1972. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Mikey

Yes. And I used to tell folks, both here and back in USA, that I moved to Thailand as a skilled volunteer (with US federal govt. certification) at a large Thai NGO under Royal Patronage of the (then) H.M. King of Thailand working with Thai disadvantaged populations. Except, for me, that was true.

After 18 years of private insurance in Thailand, my paid claims are roughly 40% of my total paid-in premiums. I know that would not square with the I-am-way-ahead-of -the-game self-insured folks, but given all the other advantages of a million US$ per year coverage, it's good enough for me.

Just like me with Medicare in US -- It's there if I go back. But I might not be in a stable sufficient condition to fly to Bangkok let alone back to USA.

Sure. But did you know that 12 years ago?

Yes and if you open Google I will cut and paste here from the Kaiser Foundation website why most (group policy) health insurance claims are denied. Why do health plans deny claims? HealthCare.gov plans also report on certain categories of reasons for in-network claims denials: Denials due to lack of prior authorization or referral Denials due to an out-of-network provider Denials due to an exclusion of a service Denials based on medical necessity (reported separately for behavioral health and other services) Denials for all other reasons And one of those 'other reason' for individual policies is that the applicant -- deliberately or otherwise -- did not provide an accurate medical history when applying for coverage and this was only found out when such person submitted a claim.

While that may be true, and as long as there was no link for that statistic, I will just say there are probably millions who have had their individual policy claims routinely paid as they accurately and fully provided their medical history for the underwriters when they submitted their application for the health insurance policy.

When I first decided to move full-time to Thailand almost 20 years ago, there were many people in US who were not happy at all with that decision. One thing that appeased them is that there was individual health coverage for me in Thailand that was not available at all for me in US. And it would have been inconceivable to those back in US that anyone would reside full time in Thailand without that kind of coverage. If some choose to do otherwise, up to them.

(As posted before) The old Bob Hope line is: "A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove to them that you don't need it." Much the same for health insurance.

That definition comes in part from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-insurance If you follow the links in that entry, you will also come up with this: "Stop-loss insurance is a form of reinsurance that insures self-funded plans and their assets. Due to the limited assets at the disposal of an average employer as compared to an insurance company, an employer could easily bankrupt itself if its employees incur a large number of high-dollar claims and the employer is unable to fund them all. This risk is where the concept of stop-loss insurance comes into play, as it provides the employer with an additional source for funding to pay for catastrophic losses. from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-funded_health_care

Self-insurance -- or really a reserve account -- is a great plan until it isn't.