oldcpu

For the OP, as pointed out by others, your best approach is to obtain a permission to stay in Thailand that does not require the Health Insurance from a Thai TGIA-associated insurer. I pretty much followed all of the recommendations in this thread. Initially I had a Type-OA visa for a while (originally based on Retirement), and when the health insurance requirement came about, for my first renewal, I ended up: - 1st : keeping my superior European insurance (which was not accepted by Thai immigration) but instead buying double health insurance from a Thai TGIA-associated insurer for my 1st one-year extension of permission to stay (for reason of retirement) on my Type-OA visa. I actually tried to go for an extension for reason of marriage to a Thai woman at that time, but that was not allowed by Phuket immigration branch as it was my very first one-year extension of my permission to stay. Phuket Immigration told me only on my 2nd extension could I go for an extension based on marriage. - 2nd : a year later for my next extension on my permission to stay, I did not renew the Thai TGIA-associated insurer insurance, but instead I went for my one year extension on my permission to stay for reason of marriage to a Thai (instead of retirement) on my Type-OA Visa. For this second extension, it was allowed by Phuket immigration. Extensions based on marriage to a Thai do not require the Health Insurance. I did thou have to have my marriage registered in Thailand, which required a lot of paperwork to get the prerequisite Kor-22 document for immigration (and thats another long story that I won't post about here). Since the paperwork (and waiting time) for an extension of my permission to stay, based on marriage was much greater (with a longer time for approval) than one based on retirement ... , so I decided for the 3rd time around it was time for me to change my visa to one where I did not need to purchase double insurance from a Thai TGIA-associated insurer (note I kept my superior European health insurance the entire time). - 3rd : Hence, a bit less than a year later, I adopted the other approach recommended in this thread, which was to leave Thailand without a re-entry permit (which invalidated my Type-OA visa) and I returned to Thailand visa exempt. As soon as practical after I arrived, I went to the Phuket immigration office and applied for a 90-day type-O visa for reason of retirement. I recommend you apply for the 90-day Type-O visa ASAP if you adopt this approach - don't wait - as sometimes this can take a long time dependent on your immigration office (and its work load). Ensure you meet all the financial requirements when applying. After I obtained the 90-day type-O visa, when I had only 30-days left in its permission to stay, I then applied for a 1-year extension of the permission to stay, based on retirement, and there was no health insurance requirement. And the paperwork, for a 'retirement' extension was much less than that for a 'marriage' extension. Good luck.

I've been to that hospital, and when I passed them my pink-ID/yellow book, they rejected such pushed it back and demanded my passport instead (that was over a year ago). For certain I did not get a 20% to 25% discount off of any hospital fees nor charges. But then again, I never 'pressed the issue'. Maybe if I had 'stood my ground' and insisted they take the 'yellow book & pink-ID', I would have discovered such a discount. Something for me to try next time. I confess, my having superb subsidized Health Insurance (as part of my European pension) means I don't always look for the cheapest medical deals. This is something I need to try harder in the future.

Yes - I worded that badly - so is mine. I should have typed a " ... and a Thai driver's license (not only in English but with more text in Thai language) ... " .. The Thai font put off the rental car agent in both Northern Ireland (Derry) and in Canada (Vancouver Airport & also Whistler), and it took some patience on my part to point out the English language text. They all initially rejected the Thai driver's licence and asked for an IDP.

Indeed - my view is if one goes for the monthly deposit route, then Bangkok Bank (which 'easily' shows the money from abroad) could be better than Krungsri, as long as one does not mind having to apply for paper work from Bangkok Bank about 1 week prior to going to immigration. However if one has a fixed deposit with 400k or 800k then IMHO Krungsri is superior to Bangkok Bank, as one can obtain a one-day statement on the same day. Until I switched to the LTR-WP visa, I successfully used a fixed deposit of 800k in Bangkok Bank (and later in Krungsri Bank) with Phuket immigration for my yearly extensions, with no problems.

I rented in Greece, Canada and Northern Ireland with my Thai driver's licence. No problems in Greece. But the rental agents in both Canada and Northern Ireland struggled with the Thai license and initially demanded an IDP. Only with polite persistence was I able to get them to back down - and in both cases I was very heavy jet lagged and this was very tiring on me. so I asked myself, ... is it worth the 505 THB to stick by "my guns" to eventually get my way ? For this upcoming trip, I am going to take the easier approach with an IDP.

No dispute there from me. Unfortunately I have in the past , encountered the (shall I say ignorant? ) at a rental car place, who saw the Thai script, and immediately refused to look at the English. They jumped on a high horse and insisted an IDP was necessary. I was VERY jet lagged at the time, and after a tiring verbal exchange (where I tried my damnedest to be polite), they eventually backed down and accepted the Thai driver's licence. I don't need a repeat of that, and if 505 THB will avoid such treatment from an a*hole then its well worth it. But hey - save the 505 THB and go for the experience of such an encounter.

During COVID, when I was on a Type-OA visa, I switched from obtaining an extension for reason of retirement, to reason of marriage. (My immigration office is here in Phuket). My Thai wife and I were married in Canada. So we hired a Translation service (that is based in Bangkok) to do most of the work for us to obtain paper work we needed for Phuket immigration. It made this all very simple for us (as Translation service did the work). We couried to the Bangkok based Translation Service (from here in Phuket) copies of my Canadian passport (for translation to Thai) plus copy of my wife's ID. We also sent our Canadian marriage certificate, which they then translated to Thai. We gave them 'limited' power of attorney for this marriage document handling (they provided to us prior (via email) the power of attorney form to fill in and to courier to them). They took this to the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok, and had the marriage document (and translation) certified as valid. They then took this to the Ministry of Foreign affairs in Bangkok, to have certified. They then couried all that paperwork back to my wife and I here in Phuket. We than took this to city hall in Phuket, had our marriage registered and obtained the Kor-22. Phuket immigration accepted the Kor-22 (family status registration). This all took less than 3 weeks, and the only travel we had to do was to go to a Phuket post office to courier documents to the Translation service in Bangkok, and go to Phuket City Hall after everything was couried back to us. This approach was recommended to me by Ubon Joe (bless his soul) and it was a fabulous superb piece of advice. @Jimi007 - PM me if you would like the name of the service we used. It worked well for us, so I recommend such an approach.

The 505 Thai baht for this International Driver's Permit was and is a small amount of money. VERY fortunately I was able to avoid the line ups at the Phuket DoT (and fortunately I did not have to 1st go to Phuket's immigration office to obtain a piece of paper with proof of residency), so the process to obtain the IDP was not painful (where I note most time, in my experience, the line ups at Phuket's DoT are very long). As for the requirement ? I think I would call it more 'peace of mind' than a 'requirement' ... I note that the car rental sites for New Zealand, (where I plan to visit and from where I booked rental cars), from two different companies (one in the North Island and one in the South Island), both state " If the licence is not in English, an International Driving Permit will be required when you arrive to collect your rental car. " I have 2 driver's licences: A German driver's licence (not in English) and a Thai driver's licence (not in English). So I decided paying 505 THB in advance of heading to NewZealand was an ok way forward for piece of mind. ... one unrelated piece of trivia, ... the International Driver's Permit lists the countries where it is valid. Of interest - Germany is not on that list. That is a mute point for me as (1) I am not planning to visit Germany in the next 12 months, and (2) I already have a German driver's license. But I found that omission of Germany from the list of countries in this Thai purchased IDP of interest.

I went for my International Driver's Licence (IDL) in Phuket successfully earlier this week. I want such an IDL for an upcoming visit to Australia and New Zealand, where I plan to rent an automobile on different occasions at each location. The car rental places in Australia & New Zealand advised me they wanted an IDL, although I am skeptical if that is really necessary. The cost only 505 THB, and its valid for 1-year. My wife and I showed up at the Phuket Department of Transport (DoT) office around 2:00pm in the afternoon, and fortunately there was very little line (which in my experience is VERY UNUSUAL for Phuket DoT - as typically in my experience the Phuket DoT lines are massive). I already had a Thailand driver's licence (which is valid to the year 2027). So I showed up at the Phuket Department of Transport with: (1) my passport, and copy of the passport picture page and a copy of my Visa page. I have an LTR visa and I was happy that this new Visa did not cause any issues with DoT. (2) my Thai driver's licence (and a copy of driver's licence, both sides) (3) my Yellow Book (and copy of appropriate yellow book page with annotations that my name is registered to a condo that I own) (4) my Pink-ID card (and copy of Pink-ID, both sides). I had to annotate on each photocopy page my full name, my Thai phone number, and list the countries I intended to visit (using the International driver's licence). After a bit of a wait , I went to the counter (when my queue # called), paid 500 baht, and was given a piece of paper to come back the next day after 10am to pick up the International Drivers Licence (IDL). My Thai wife also went for hers at the same time, but she was initially rejected !! because: (1)she mistakenly brought her Thai motocycle driver's licence, and not her automobile driver's licence (the two licences look almost identical, and my wife mixed them up), and (2) she had a 'sleeveless' shirt on in her images (exposing her shoulders), which was not acceptable for a licence photo. So she went back the next day with (1)the correct driver's licence, and (2) a photo where her shoulders are covered. I was pleased that I did NOT have to go to Thai immigration to get a separate one-page letter/document (with my image on such) noting I was a resident in Phuket. Instead the Phuket Department of Transport accepted my Yellow Book and my Pink-ID in lieu of any immigration residency one-page document. For the Yellow-Book/Pink-ID haters and skeptics, as I am sure you will note, such Pink-ID/yellow-book is NOT necessary ... but I do note that it came in handy, as I did not have to first visit immigration to obtain a separate document (where the Phuket Department of Transport may have wanted a separate immigration 'residence' document if I did not have the "pink-ID and Yellow book"). This saved me having to do a separate trip to Phuket immigration (and saved my being forced to also wait in line there at immigration, where line-ups at Phuket immigration can be rather lengthy at times). When researching this, I read (on an unofficial webpage) that in Thailand, even if one does not have a Thai driver's licence, one can go to a Thailand Department of Transport (with one's foreign valid driver's licence) and also apply for an International Driver's Licence. Whether that is valid for use in Thailand thou, is not something I know. I suspect it is valid for 1 year only in Thailand. It does thou make me wonder, if by paying 505 THB every year (to renew one's Thailand Department of Transport international driver's licence) if one could thus avoid going for a Thai driver's licence? I suspect the answer is NO - and that one can NOT cheat the Thai driver's licensing system that way. A couple of days later, we went to Phuket DoT to pick up our IDLs at about 1:15pm, and the lineup was insane - there had to be more than 50 people waiting patiently in line to reach the information counter (where queue numbers were handed out). Fortunately we did not need a queue number, but rather walked in, and when to the counter where where we were handed our IDLs. We signed the IDLs, signed a receipt form, and left with our two IDLs. I feel rather fortunate I managed to avoid the massive lines that were present at the IDL.

When I used to have a type-OA visa (and then later a Type-OA visa) here in Phuket (at the local immigration), I was asked for a hand drawn map. I simply printed out a google map, held it up to the window with a blank piece of paper on top, and traced the outline of the street, then I added some labels, and I created a basic hand drawn map. It was quick to do. As to why it must be hand drawn? I don't know. Possibly by forcing one to hand draw a map, it gives immigration a bit more confidence that one actually lives in the location where they say they live - although that is speculation and frankly I don't think it should make any difference.

I have been living in Phuket, also in the south end, since 2019. Phuket Immigration have always been very polite to me. I've had to go to immigration a number of times, sometimes with a 'Visa exempt (30 day) entry', sometimes with a 'Type-O' visa, and sometimes with a 'Type-OA' visa. On the Type-O and Type-OA visas, my reasons for extensions varied, sometimes I obtained the extension for reason of retirement, and once for reason of marriage (to a Thai). It made no difference as to what visa, they were polite.

Indeed - but if one is that wealthy, one does not worry about the relatively small interest from $100K US$, nor worry about the amount of money for double health insurance (especially if one already has superior foreign insurance outside of Thailand that one does not want to be forced to waste one's time to buy Health Insurance from a Thai company). In the case of zillions, such amounts ($100K US$ or expense for Health Insurance) are very trivial and not worth one's time to try to optimize to the last few hundred dollars or so.

I hope this works out for you. In the case of Phuket, Bangkok bank required a week to produce the paperwork to show the funds in one's account for 1 year, when applying for a Type-O or a Type-OA visa. This was to show the necessary 400k/800k THB for the pre-requisite time frame. When I was on a Type-OA visa (with my living in Phuket), it was that Bangkok Bank slowness (having to get the information from the main branch in Bangkok a week in advance of my going to Phuket immigratoin) that drove me to open an account with Krungsri bank here in Phuket, where Krungsri will produce the paperwork on the same day. I was not using a monthly deposit method, so in that case, I suspect Krungsri is superior to Bangkok Bank. I note thou, in the case of receiving monthly deposits thou (such as foreign funds coming to Thailand via Wise), possibly Bangkok Bank is more reliable for their annotations noting the foreign source of the monthly funds - as I don't know if Krungsri will appropriately flag funds transferred to Krungsri via Wise, as coming into Krungsri from outside of Thailand. While this won't likely help the you (the OP) I hope that knowledge might help some others.

One further point about this ... If one truly had an account with zillions of US$ then it would be a simple matter to set aside $100K US$ in a cash account, and that $100K US$ would be insignificant in regards to one still having zillions of US$ equivalent in one's trading account. In such a hypothetical case, $100K US$ would be nothing when creating a second CASH account compared to one's Zillions. Rather the issue (I assume) would be where one only possess a small amount of money over the $100K US$ needed for self health insurance, where that $100K US$ equivalent is in one's trading account, and in that case having to put the trading account money in cash at LEAST 1-year prior to the LTR application, could be difficult. In that case, the BoI view likely is one is simply not 'wealthy enough' to be the 'wealthy pensioner'. Putting aside $100K US$ to a cash account is no issue for one with zillions (nor IMHO an issue for one with "only" one million or two million US$ equivalent in funds). Having said all that, the LTR approach allowing self health insurance is STILL significantly superior to the more limited options for a person on a Type-OA Visa (requiring Health insurance), where one on a Type-OA visa could have zillions in CASH and it would not matter, as self health insurance is simply not nominally accepted for a person on a Type-OA visa. In the Type-OA visa case, one would be forced to use part of their Zillions to buy health insurance from a Thai company. Lots of workable approaches with 'zillions' of dollars. 🙂

In my case BoI were very insistent on my last 2 years tax returns, and when I provided them my Canadian 2020 and 2021 return, they asked for my return for 2022 (which I had not yet even submitted as such was not due in Canada for a few months). I previously sent them my pay slips for 2022, but that was not enough for them. They wanted the tax returns. In the end, I completed my 2022 tax return, obtained Canadian government official reply from that (which noted my global income), I gave BoI that paperwork, and they accepted such (not thou without BoI first asking for proof of a pension that I never stated I had - but that's another story). Still all is well that ends well, and I did exceed the required income level (as proven by my tax returns and pension pay slips) and they finally approved the income part of my LTR-WP application. I think it all depends on which BoI person is handling one's case.

Thats true. but its not without good reason. One can lose their shirt in a trading account. Simple. I have traded for decades, and in one trading account, I have lost more money in one evening that some people save in a lifetime ... (and was fortunate two years later to make the money all back and then some). BoI can't legislate one's trading technique, and one can lose a lot of money fast in a trading account. So BoI had to draw a line somewhere and they drew the line such that trading accounts would not be accepted. Full stop. No negotiation. I had the funds needed for self insurance in cash in a German savings account, but I did not want to officially translate the documents to English for BoI. Ok - so I am lazy. I confess. So I tried with 2 different trading accounts in Canada that exceeded the prerequisite amount - but as noted, BoI would not accept that. And it makes sense to me, one can lose money VERY fast with a trading account. BoI wanted an account for self health insurance with the money in CASH that was not a trading account. Fortunately I also had an account in Thailand that met that criteria (in foreign funds). I guess it would have been easier, for self health insurance, if I simply provided in English language documents showing all my accounts in places around the world, but I was reluctant to say too much about my financial status. Why provide more information than one has to ? In the end I did satisfy BoI. Had I known initially about the trading accounts not being accepted, I NEVER would have mentioned such to BoI. Yep. But it is a Wealthy Pensioner LTR visa, emphasis on "Wealthy" and not a poor pensioner LTR visa. So yes I tried a few different accounts before they would accept one, but ... that's not a big issue for me. Perhaps if this was an LTR-PP (poor pensioner) visa, it would have been a very understandable and massive issue for others who tried and failed.

My meeting the requirements for LTR visa was a bit complicated, as I have a number of relatively small pensions from different sources, which all together, when added up, exceeded the $40K US equivalent/year. So in addition to showing proof of the $40K US equivalent/year, I had to show I met the $250K US equivalent investment in Thailand which I did by a combination of 1/2 of my condo purchase price (with proof of that), and by a 2-million THB purchase in Thai government bonds. Proving the $40K US$ (because my income comes from multiple sources) was a bit completed, in part because of me. I didn't want to use my German pension, as that required me to translate the proof of that into English language. But my European organisation pension alone was adequate proof - except BoI wanted to see that on a tax return. So as noted, BoI wanted me to give them a tax return proving my income. The German government had already told me to stop submitting a tax return (as my German pension too small for them to be bothered, and my European organisation pension not taxable in Germany if I resided in Thailand), so I ended up submitting to BoI copy of my Canadian tax return, which lists the sum of all my Global income. In that I had my Canadian Old Age Security + European pension listed, which together easily exceeded the $40K US$ equivalent income. But for reasons I can't understand, BoI asked me to provide the tax form for my Canadian Pension, which at that time I did not yet receive such a pension (as I deferred my Canadian pension to age 70 and I was not yet age 70). I already exceeded the $40K per year (without a Canadian pension), so I had to go back to BoI, explain I did not receive (nor did I need) the Canadian Pension to meet their requirements. They then accepted that explanation (as I exceeded the $40K US equiv without such a pension). After that the income aspect was satisfied (but ONLY AFTER I had proof of such with an updated Canadian tax return), but I then had fun proving the Self Health Insurance to BoI (as my superior European Insurance was not accepted as it was not in a format that BoI wanted to dig through). It took me a few attempts to show an account with $100K US for self insurance, as the 1st two accounts I showed BoI also had the capability to be used as a 'trading account' which BoI would not accept. BoI would not accept a trading account for self health insurance. In the end I provided proof of a Foreign Exchange account I had with the perquisite amount for self health insurance present for over a year, and with that I finally obtained approval from BoI. In the end it all worked out. The best part for me, was most of which I had to do was from my condo balcony, with feet up, using my laptop computer, sipping a drink, and enjoying a fabulous sea view, ... as I uploaded the prerequisite documents.

With perhaps, the exception of the LTR allowing one to self insure for Health insurance. Being able to show the equivalent of $100K US$ in cash, in a bank account anywhere in the world, is a big advantage for those of us whose superior European health insurance is not accepted (as the format in how the European health insurance defined is not something BoI nor Thai immigration want to delve into). Maybe we are into semantics, but I would call that self "Health Insurance" major sympathy for assets - where Type-OA visa holders can not self insure in the same manner as an LTR-WP visa holder.

Likely as you know there is also the equivalent US$ 40,000 p.a. + US$ 250,000 investment in Thailand category for "wealthy pensioner". That was the route I followed. Perhaps. Perhaps not. When it comes to money, its all relative. I suspect also there are OTHER BoI considerations. The LTR Visa does save Thai immigration a lot of work, had I stayed with a Type-O (or Type-OA) visa for 10 years, with an extension of my permission to stay every year for the 10 years. Thats more work for immigration. But that extra work for immigration (for a Type-O/OA compared to an LTR-WP) is likely not a concern/care of BoI. From a Government department point of view, possibly the 50k Thai baht (for the LTR visa) showing up via BoI coffers (as opposed to about the same amount (for a Type-O/OA w/re-entry permits over 10 years time) directly showing up via immigration coffers) is something BoI want to be able to show (to bolster their LTR program) ... Plus they (BoI) with the LTR-WP get to show more people applying for the LTR visa, even if the benefit may seem less due to what you describe as a "comparatively low financial bar" for the LTR-WP. So from a numbers game of total applicants (without looking at the financial benefit details) maybe that makes sense to BoI. Regardless, i do agree that those of us who obtained the LTR-WP should be happy ... noting I am happy to have this.

I went to the Bangkok Bank branch in Central Festival in Phuket. The Bank 'tellers' (lady at the counter) did have to consult with the Bangkok Bank branch manager. The lady at the counter had to make many phone calls, to figure out how to do this, but eventually she succeeded - but it took time (1st lots of time waiting (as this branch is always busy), and then a lot of time waiting sitting in front of the lady at the counter as she struggled as to how she could do this. The manager of the Bangkok Bank branch in Central Festival stated I needed a "yellow book" and "Pink-ID" card, but I am skeptical if that is really necessary (I had such, so I did not dispute this with him). I also have a decent amount of money deposited with Bangkok Bank, so possibly that helped.

I've been going through the Thai line with my Thai wife for over a decade, ... where I entered using multiple visas ... such as Type-O, Type-OA, LTR visa, and even Visa-exempt. In all cases (except for one slightly slower) I had no issues, and it was massively quicker than being in the foreigner line up. In the case of the LTR-WP visa (which was slightly slower), when I entered Phuket immigration (right behind my wife, where she pointed out to the Phuket immigration IO that I was 'with her' (but this time she did not say married), the Thai line IO looked at my LTR-visa, and then had me wait for just over a minute, while he walked to another counter and talked to some other IOs. He then came back and stamped me into Thailand, with my permission to stay matching the previous end date of my 5-year permission to stay. One of the IOs he had talked to was standing close to my wife (where she was waiting for me), and that IO noted to her that they don't often see LTR-WP visas (as of yet) in Phuket. Also, in Phuket, there was no 'fast track line' (as of that time) , where purportedly LTR Visa holders can go through a Thai airport's international fast track line. So in summary, all my entries into Thailand, with my Thai spouse, were very quick going through the Thai line with my Thai wife, with only the above LTR experience, taking a bit longer. I also note, the foreign lines (when I entered the Thai line with my LTR visa) were massive in size - and I would estimate 20 to 30 minute waits.

I have an LTR-WP, and I have not made any special effort to get a Thai tax ID - nor have I filed a Thai tax return. Details: As part of my application for the LTR-WP, I ended up having to show an investment of $250K US$ equivalent in Condo. Since both my name and my wife's name is on my Thai condo deed, I could only use 1/2 of my condo purchase price toward my $250K US$ equivalent (for an investment in Thailand). So I ended up buying 2-million THB in Thai government bonds to put me over the $250K US$ investment (with some margin). As part of the Thai bond application, in the online application system being used by Bangkok Bank, they had to enter a tax-ID, else the application for the bond would fail. I pointed out to them they had been taking a 'withholding' tax from my Thai bank account for years (from interest my Thai account earned), and I asked what Tax ID they used for that? I only received 'blank stares'. In Thailand, I am told the # on Thai people's ID cards, is also their tax ID. So my Thai wife suggested to the bank that the bank use the number on my Thai "pink-ID" for the "Tax-ID" column. They entered that, and their computer accepted that. Having typed that, I doubt that the "pink-ID' is the "Tax-ID" for a foreigner, and I too am waiting to see whether as time passes if I will eventually end up getting a tax ID. At present, I do not plan to file a Thai tax return, (as my Thai income (ie income in Thailand) is less than the level necessary for filing a Thai tax return, but things can change - so I also am curious to learn here.

Please be explicit. Where ? You claim your insurance company will not increase its rates when you age. I asked which company. Please, which company? I don't believe you. You claim one must go on multiple visa runs when I noted ONE visa run to invalidate one's type-OA visa to switch to a Type-O visa. Why more border runs? Please explain. You have yet to explain. And for the OP who started the thread - there is NO health insurance requirement (from a Thai branch of a health insurance company) if you go for a Type-O visa (and apply from within Thailand). It (having a Type-O visa) makes your efforts to get Health insurance MUCH MORE flexible than being forced to use Health Insurance from a Thai branch in the case if one has a Type-OA visa. Don't let misinformation of others misguide you.

So you are saying you have a Thai insurance, that will never increase after a few years when you age and thus you move to a new age category. What insurance company is that? If you research the costs of health insurance, you will read the rates for health insurance are higher and higher dependent on one's age category. This is common knowledge. I recommend you research this again. Age DOES affect the price one pays for health insurance. "ALL THOSE BORDER RUNS" ( run typed by you as plural to be spelled runs) ? It only takes ONE run to invalidate one's Type-OA visa, re-enter, and obtain a Type-O visa. Why do you think there is more than one run (as you did use 'plural')?

Health Insurance rates are based on one's age. And yes it will increase as one gets older ... Typically there are categories of age, with a few years in each category, so health insurance DOES nominally increase as one moves from one category to the next. EVERY health insurance has this. I recommend you go back and research this if you did not know so, because it IS IMPORTANT> And in MY case my Health Insurance is heavily subsidized as part of my pension. When I get older, my health insurance does NOT go up. Rather my former employer (who provides my pension) picks up the tab for any increases. If I were to give up my superior health insurance, to go with Thai health insurance, that would be a dumb move on my part, given the superior nature of my health insurance. Agreed. EXCEPT its the Thai insurance that is inferior. ...FAR inferior to my European Insurance. It makes sense to LEAVE to invalidate one's OA visa, and re-enter to get a Type-O visa, to avoid being forced into inferior health insurance from a Thai branch. Many of us have done that. it depends on one's age. And it (health insurance from Thai companies) IS INFERIOR and more expensive (at my age of 70) than what I pay for my FAR SUPERIOR subsidized European heath insurance. No. I did not forgot. If you wish to play accusations, I can do that too (given your not understanding the situation of many here ) but in the interest of forum harmony I won't.