Lorry

Two more things: The really important thing is: how far will the insurer go to dig out preexisting conditions? Some will ask on the phone "Otherwise you were ok, I suppose?" So you say yes, and that's it. Others will require all previous medical records of the patient. They will contact all Thai hospitals the patient may have visited, and ask about this patient. This can take many months. Some insurances deny every claim over 50,000 or 100,000 USD, wait for the patient to sue, and then settle out of court (at a discount, of course). You get what you pay for. On average, the premiums have to equal the cost of treatment. And private medical care in Thailand is not cheap. Many TV members expect a monthly premium of less than 10,000. That just can't cover Bumrungrad, BPH etc (it may if you exclude outpatient treatment, dentistry, eye care, pregnancy etc). 20,000 would be cheap. A friend has an insurance that really covers everything, they paid millions already. But when the premium went up to 70,000 per month, even he switched to a cheaper policy.

Generally true, but not "any" insurerer. No, not "any" insurer. As I repeatedly mentioned, there are insurances with a different model of contract. But I don't know of any that would be suitable for most board members (ie old Anglo-American expats living full-time in Thailand on a tight budget). They are mostly European. Many require European residence or nationality. Some require regular ( eg once a year or once every couple of years) trips home (most Snowbirds use this kind of insurance). Some are subsidized (but they require a certain nationality, or residence in a certain country, or membership in Social Security there). Some use a moratorium: if you haven't got sick for a certain time after buying the policy all preexisting conditions are covered. These policies are not cheap, though (usually far more than 10,000 baht per month). Some really just don't care about preexisting conditions older than a certain number of years (5 years is common, can be more or less than that). But often, their policies are a bit ambiguous, so it's risky.

555 I was thinking about buying April :) Quote: "was"

You say Bumrungrad found BPH. So, why does April think it was an existing condition at the time you bought the policy? And why do they think you knew about BPH at the time you bought the policy? Really confused. PS Oh, Sheryl just answered my question in her next post. Looks not good for Simon IMO

This is illegal in most places (contravenes government regulations about hotels and contravenes the regulations of the condo). Many places still do it. A bit risky, you might run into a place where the neighbors call the police. Not very probable, though.

Yes. The question is whether this reasoning would stand up in a French court. I have no idea. Exactly. BTW I am a bit confused. You say you never got in writing that you have BPH - so why does April think so?

You believe the RTP. Are they trustworthy?

She actually is an actress. Why don't you help her with that? You seem to know how to do it. I certainly don't know. That's what you say (and the RTP looking for an excuse) Not many places in the world with less KMT than Pingtung. Yes Did you know that he is from Pingtung? Did you know that he is from KMT? Taiwan, like the small countries of Europe (eg the Netherlands, one of Taiwan's oldest friends in Europe), is very open to the world. It's nothing like the US where I was asked whether Germany is in Africa and where highly educated people don't know the difference between Iraq and Iran. I can trust friends from Taiwan with 100,000 USD. I wouldn't try this with Thais. The rest of your post is off topic and insulting.

Typical ChatGPT. Generalizing, noncommittal blabla. Like a politician. Copy and paste from the internet (which is what it is). Yawn.

Quite the opposite. They have learned a very valuable lesson. They extorted them with the quarantine during the Phuket sandbox, you forgot? And the tourists came back, even more than expected. The lesson they learned: we can squeeze as much money as we want out of the tourists. "Tourists will always come back" (B. Trink)

https://news.tvbs.com.tw/entertainment/2026364 https://today.line.me/tw/v2/article/XYr8nmw https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/202301260151.aspx https://tw.news.yahoo.com/女星安于晴控-遭曼谷警勒索2萬7泰銖-泰警出手立案調查-042037160.html It was in the news. Not in the English language news, though, and certainly not the biggest story of the day. If she wanted 15 minutes of fame, she should have chosen a better time. At Chinese New Year, people don't care much about the news (remember the Tet-Offensive?). And she will never be able to visit Thailand again, did she really think it's worth it, for 15 minutes of fame?

Being accused of a crime is enough. No need for proof. Many countries use interpol this way to arrest dissidents abroad. Remember Assange? Fortunately, the current president of interpol is an integer general from a squeaky-clean democracy, the UAE.

(from Art L 113-8) Does the fact he didn't mention BPH diminish the insurer's opinion of the risk? Simon thinks no. He thinks "BPH is not an illness". I think he is wrong. But I also know of insurance companies that would not follow April's logic. But I know nothing about French insurance law. This is generally true. But, at least in continental Europe, there are exceptions. They are usually not practical for old people. It may also be necessary to have residence or nationality in a certain country.

You really need legal advice. You might get your premiums back, like scuba wrote. You might even get coverage, but it will probably too slow, because it doesn't seem you know lots of French lawyers (I don't even know whether French law applies). So for treatment proceed like Sheryl said. As for self- insurance: 160,000 seems to be a lot for you. If so, don't even dream of self- insurance. Read in various threads what Sheryl says: you need several million readily accessible to be self-insured.

All people in Taiwan learn English in school (not necessarily successfully). In class, they chose an English name. They will use this English name when they communicate with foreigners because foreigners would not be able to pronounce or to remember Chinese names. Their clerical staff cannot even correctly spell them. Taiwan's economy is built on trade, mostly with America, Americans are not known for their proficiency in foreign languages. You want to trade with them, you better learn English and have a name Americans are able to handle. Thais, in interactions with Westerners, use their nicknames which are easy enough. BTW foreigners living in Taiwan sometimes need a (self-chosen) Chinese name

Can you recommend a doctor or a team in Bangkok for this?

None. But you have to go in person. The first 90days report with your new passport cannot be done online.

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/april-international.com You can try and post here

Find out the path that your requests follow. Etaoin seems to imply it goes like this: you contact AA, they contact April Assistance in Thailand, they ask April in France. Ask AA whether they really contact April Assistance in Thailand. If yes, April Assistance is most probably the bottleneck. Based on experience, I recommend to call them every 3 hours. If no, ie if AA contacts April in France directly, call them in France and speak to a superior of the person(s) in charge. Follow up with an email to this person. Find a French person knowledgeable about how to handle French insurances. Is it advisable to use a lawyer? Do they have an ombudsman? Is it advisable to pay yourself and claim later? Questions like this differ from country to country.

You should never compare US prices for health care with the rest of the world. US prices are obscenely expensive, and the rest of the world knows it. Your gallery is very instructive!

Alternatives would been: a place with a bad reputation, on the other side of the road; a place closed down before covid - maybe they are open again?; a plastic surgery place, not sure whether they are still in business after covid; the public hospital, 1 hour away - should have gone there

Not avalable in Thailand. No need to ask private hospitals, they only have what the government imports. No plans to import them, either.

Death of a zebra For the last decades, there has been a zebra crossing in my neighborhood, across a deadly road. Nobody ever cared. Then they put some police there. They would stop the motorists from time to time, so that pedestrians could cross the road. After the poor doctors death, all af a sudden motorists would stop for pedestrians, no police required. Very nice. Pedestrians took notice, and turned out in large numbers. Most people can walk, not everybody has an engine. After a year, there was a continuous stream of pedestrians crossing. No fun for the motorists. Now they brought back the police, so the road belongs to the motorists again. Pedestrians are forbidden to cross the zebra crossing if not explicitly allowed.

Yes, bank book required for transfer of stamps at CW. At least sometimes. A friend of mine had his stamps for retirement extension transferred to his new passport today at CW. They required his bank book (preferably an updated one). He had it (because I told him), otherwise they would have sent him home. (As posted above, I had the same experience last year. I was sent home because I didn't bring my bank book.)

I very much doubt whether this would work. He is in Bangkok, not in Pattaya. During the last 10 years, pharmacies in Bangkok have started to follow regulations rather strictly.