This is first hand info. I lived in Thailand over 15 yrs until covid 19 pandemics but had short trips back home during that time. There is no problem of having medicare card again but when you want to private health insurance like NIB ,HCF or BUPA they contact Medicare and they do some calculations how long Medicare claims have not been made or card used , then they charge you more than anyone who is becoming a new member. I think i pay %2 or 2.5 more. That is all.
I hope this helps