Leveraged

Your best bet would be to reach out to local insurance brokers and some of the big name international insurers and ask for quotes. A top tier international company offered me this (part of a breakdown of a high tier policy offer) which is the type of insurance that would cover most eventualities in the more expensive hospitals (Bumrungrad and Bangkok Hospital groups) You can definitely go cheaper but you will have to go to cheaper hospitals. The your particular issue will be finding a company that guarantees you will be able to continue buying insurance past a certain age. This is what the Aetna rep in Thailand says for their company (which is a good one) Thailand UltraCare Individual Premiums 2021 M060-14E-010121.pdf

Doesn't matter. What matters is that for most of us, our home or home country or "place where we were born" or whatever you want to call it, allows us to stay there without drama and provides at least some form of financial and medical aid.

Or just have a way to get out and not put all of your proverbial eggs in Thailand's basket. Come, stay, enjoy, but dont invest too much and if it ever gets funky, just go home. Or take maybe a neighboring country where they wouldn't mind old retirees and dont make them jump through hoops.

Thats ok if your wife outlives you. But I didn't know you could have your spouse handle all your immigration business on your behalf. Everything ive seen says otherwise. You either do it yourself or an institution of some kind has to do it for you.

So your plan is basically no plan. Go, live as good of a life as you can, and let the chips fall where they may? Not knocking it, just curious.

Thanks. Sorry to hear about your friend, but sounds like he was well taken care of and wasn't a burden on anyone, which is about all we can hope for I think. Do you have any idea of what the cost of this was? And what was the location? Pattaya?

I do not doubt this in the slightest, but issues to consider are the cost out of pocket or the cost of insurance over the years to cover this potential eventuality. Speculation at the moment, but something to look in to. If there are "homes" that expats are eligible for that take care of visa issues until death, that would be an option and worth considering.

Every time I seriously think this through, repatriating in my very very old years seems like the best/only responsible option. Honestly the thought of being old/crippled/mentally handicapped and extremely venerable in Thailand during my oldest years makes me extremely uncomfortable. IMO it should make anyone uncomfortable. At least at home and no matter what ill be able to get medicare and dont need to worry about strung about by strangers.

Is the care-giver going to drag your crippled and mentally debilitated self to immigration? I got no issue with a care home or having people look after me if im out of it, but how to you do that while you're a goner? Ive never seen any type of these people in immigration in any of the hundred times ive been there. So how does it work in that case?

Everyone is welcome to their opinion. My opinion of the above comment is that its a dangerously short-sighted and irresponsible "YOLO" thought process that is akin to playing roulette at a casino. FYI I have a wife and kids in Thailand and been living there on and off for 15 years. I am simply commenting and looking for input on retiring and dying in thailand, and what peoples plans are for the inevitable issues that will arise from it.

Tons of people want to retire to Thailand and loads of people always talk about living in Thailand, but the one thing nobody ever talks about is the long term aspect of retiring in Thailand. For example: Getting very old and dying in Thailand. Recently my grandmother passed away in my home country and her last 3-4 years were very very hard for everyone. Watching this happen really made me re-think retiring to Thailand. Some points ive been thinking about and would like input on: 1 ~ Medical insurance for people over 65 is almost impossible to get, and most policies ive seen that cover people over 65, only allow you to do so if you've been a long time policy holder prior to reaching 65 and the policy prices skyrocket as you get older. Ive seen some policies cost 300,000 baht per year for someone who's over 80 years old. So you're either gonna fork over a fortune in insurance, or pay out of pocket. 2 ~ So you've reached retirement age and you make the big move to Thailand. Got your house or condo or whatever and youre living the good life. Youre on a marriage visa and yearly extensions. Time goes on and all of a sudden you outlive your wife at 70 years old. What then? Move to a retirement visa with yearly extensions? What about the insurance requirement for OA visas? 3 ~ This is probably the most important one ive been considering: Everything is all good and time goes on. If youre lucky you live a good strong life and then unexpectedly have a massive heart attack or stroke and drop dead instantly at 80 years old. BUT what about if you aren't so lucky and develop Alzheimer's and need constant care, or severe Diabetes, or have a bad stroke and are crippled and cant talk etc? What then? You still gonna do the whole immigration hassle/run-around/drama/waiting in lines/sweating your balls off/goalpost shifting nonsense in that state? Personally I can not possibly see how this would be in any way reasonable or possible after seeing first hand how my grandmother was in her last few years. Any input would be helpful on the above concerns. I would like to hear how others are planning for their end-of-life stage in Thailand and what they plan to do so that they are not a burden on anyone. It would be appreciated to hear how people plan to overcome these hurdles.