jpshanik

I think they are good at hiding it. A while back I shared a room in Bumrungrad with a guy that was attacked in CM. walking back 2 blocks to his hotel, a truck with 5 guys stopped him, beat the hell out of him and shattered his ankle bone. Just for his money and watch. Didn't ask him for the money. Just beat the hell out of him. Had to fly down to Bkk with a shattered ankle. Those kind of things don't hit the news.

Not to be rude but I'm a bit confused as to some of the comments being posted. I know there are many differing prices of hospital care around Thailand but one of the main purposes of having insurance is that hospitals can't overcharge you. If you have a procedure done and the bill goes straight to the insurance company, the insurance company pays them directly at the rate that is appropriate (for the most part). That's part of the reason for buying a policy. It's much harder to scam the insurance companies than a foreigner without any insurance.

Also, for the person claiming 5 mil baht is too low, I'd be interested to know the reasoning. A routine surgical procedure with 4 or 5 day stay at samitivej costs about 150k baht. This is one of the priciest hospitals in Thailand if not the most.

I encourage ppl to compare policies in detail as I've worked in insurance for over a decade and have been more than pleased with the coverage here for the price.

Please note that even though some companies do drop policy holders, some have guaranteed renewal.

Also, depending on the policy, the max can be "per injury, per year".

I know insurance is not fun to read but your hard earned money is paying for it. You might want to see what exactly your getting. Or you can always get an agent that can explain what exactly you're getting. (Again, I am a broker so I'm a bit biased).

If it is my post you refer to I did not say 5 mil was "too low" I said it was the lowest one should have i.e. the minimum needed.

Obviously a routine procedure with a 5-6 day stay is not the concern here. Even a low-ball policy will cover that and for that matter, most people could manage to pay out of pocket if they had to. It is the possibility of a catastrophic event with prolonged ICU stay and multiple major surgeries one has to consider. I have known those to exceed 2 million at government hospitals, let alone private.

Thanks for the reply and sorry if there was a misunderstanding. I agree, if you are looking to get true catastrophic coverage, maybe the 5 mil maybe a little low if you want to stay at Samitivej or Bumrumgrad. However, if you compare apples to apples, the cost of the coverage is very low (and I mean dramatically lower) compared to coverage in places like the US or the UK. Also, we are talking about coverage with no deductibles, where as my policies abroad always came with outrageous deductibles upwards of $5000 US per year even before you saw a single dollar of coverage. So in essence (imho) we are talking about a truly different coverage. I prefer the Thai one, where I can go to a hospital and not worry if I have enough to cover the most basic stay (even with insurance).

As far as limits are concerned, I have never been asked to raise one, but I would be very surprised if any of the major insurers in Thailand wouldn't raise the limits for additional coverage. Also, since the actual premiums are statistics based, I think you would be surprised how little your monthly premium would go up to cover even 10 mil baht per year.

I don't want to endorse one product over another, but I think some of the features in BUPA are pretty good if you really look into what you get for the price.

I know this is a bit off subject, but when I insure super cars, I have been able to change pretty much all the limits of coverage and I would imagine I could do the same for Health Insurance.

Hope that helps

Not to be rude but I'm a bit confused as to some of the comments being posted. I know there are many differing prices of hospital care around Thailand but one of the main purposes of having insurance is that hospitals can't overcharge you. If you have a procedure done and the bill goes straight to the insurance company, the insurance company pays them directly at the rate that is appropriate (for the most part). That's part of the reason for buying a policy. It's much harder to scam the insurance companies than a foreigner without any insurance.

Also, for the person claiming 5 mil baht is too low, I'd be interested to know the reasoning. A routine surgical procedure with 4 or 5 day stay at samitivej costs about 150k baht. This is one of the priciest hospitals in Thailand if not the most.

I encourage ppl to compare policies in detail as I've worked in insurance for over a decade and have been more than pleased with the coverage here for the price.

Please note that even though some companies do drop policy holders, some have guaranteed renewal.

Also, depending on the policy, the max can be "per injury, per year".

I know insurance is not fun to read but your hard earned money is paying for it. You might want to see what exactly your getting. Or you can always get an agent that can explain what exactly you're getting. (Again, I am a broker so I'm a bit biased).

Depending on the coverage you want, some of the international coverages do cover more but to just say international is better may be a bit subjective. If you live in Thailand and don't travel 1/2 the year, the limits can easily cover the most expensive expenses at a private hospital here. And also supplement most anything during your holidays except for the USA.

If you travel excessively then international may be a better option. If you don't, then local coverage usually costs about 1/4 of international(this is a very generic estimation). And hospitals seem to be a bit happier with local coverage (in some cases).

The coverage will be different for sure. It just depends on what you want / need / expect covered. Also, there are other benefits to local coverage that are a bit harder to explain.

Just FYI, I have a brokerage here. I don't want to break any Thaivisa rules, so I won't bark out my company.

What I would recommend just for Outpatient coverage is that it's not for everyone. Unless you tend to visit outpatient pretty frequently, you could possibly pay more in coverage than you would ever use in a year. Having said that, sometimes some families get more than full usage out of the coverage. You also need to read the fine print because even with outpatient coverage, some things will not be covered.

There are always strange stories about overcharging at various hospitals and such. I don't think you should be scared off by any of those. Again, like the other person who sells and commented, I would recommend a good agent or broker. If you run into trouble, they / we should do the arguing for you.

As for the recommendation for other companies, I think everyone has an opinion based on experience, but again, an agent or broker would have a better overall experience with that. My humble opinion.

BTW, just because you have a good or bad experience with a company in another country, does not translate to it being the same here.

Also, BUPA just sent out their new rates.

Hope that helps

I always take a taxi unless extreme situations occur. Going up and down the skylink is horrible w luggage. There's a reason nobody can tell u exactly how much it costs. Bc nobody uses it. I actually think the express is down to 90 b bc it's lacking use. I live very close to the station and would never use it. Taxis in Bkk r dirt cheap. They will drop u exactly where u need to go (for the most part). So for maybe 100 baht more u don't have to take the crap skylink.

If it is flooding when u arrive by all means use the skylink. But currently from airport to victory it is clear.

And yes. When u exit the skylink, u will have to carry ur luggage down 4 stories, across a rail then up to the bts and back down, passing all the gates w luggage.

Just a couple of quick notes: 1. Sorry for all you ppl who have to use TOT. Had it, would never consider going back unless it was the absolute only service available. Famous last words. Haha. 2. For those of you who complain about torrents taking up space on your precious internet, get a frickin life. If you live in Thailand (or even visited for that matter) you have most likely benefitted from torrents, one way or another. Come on, admit it. And sorry to say, but if TOT has really stopped their torrent users, then good for them. That is the quickest way to lose about half their business and they need a good waking up. So for all of you who have to stay on TOT, I'm sorry. For those of you who want to stay on TOT, please take good care of your AOL account. You know what I'm talking about. And please don't let anyone on this forum catch you doing anything to annoy anyone else, because I'm sure you wouldn't be casting the first stone otherwise.

Went to HK for an ED Visa as I was going to Chula for intensive Thai classes. Read many different things about the ED visa multi/single etc. HK absolutely refuses to give multi entry. ABSOLUTELY. They weren't actually rude but very very cold. They said if I wanted multi entry, I had to do in Thailand. Of course, the Thai immigration office said I can only do out of country. Catch 22.

Conclusion, HK is fairly efficient for an embassy office. Very cold people. Read and follow EVERY rule they give you as they won't budge AT ALL. They did make an exception for one guy who had to fly out the same day (I think) but I didn't stick around to see the end result. If you like HK or want to do some shopping/eating go and beware of holidays for the embassy office. If you want a friendly office go somewhere else.

As I have been tinkering with HTPC's since way way back I prefer the PC based one.. In fact I suspect we will see some kind of eee PC home box that is 1080p HDMI / DVI / VGA and digital out that can run vista media center in the next little while.. Thats probably the best for bedroom units with a windows home server storage system..

There is already a PC Based system that is being sold at Fortune (I imagine they have the same at Pantip) called the Eee Box. Just picked up a brochure so I don't know too much, but at about the same size as AppleTV, it had wifi, hdmi, etc. It runs on an Atom processor and I'm still undecided on those. It actually runs windows. Another option was SnaZio. It is more of a media center box than the Eee Box (which is actually a computer running windows). The SnaZio seemed to be like AppleTV with the option to download torrents on the machine itself. Both options were about 15,000B.

I am not recommending either. I just saw them and they were both being demo'd and they both looked really good in HDMI.

I did buy the WD TV though and I am pretty happy with it. Pretty much as easy plug and play as it gets. Currently running on my Tube TV with Composite connections. It cuts out the edges of the screen but for 4750B, It is the cheapest option for a name brand Media Controller I found. Did consider one of the no-name brand boxes that take a 3.5 Sata drive, but everything I read about the WD TV said "no-hassles". and that's what I got.

I think the best way to increase tourism would be to allow for longer tourist visas. I know plenty of people who have done the whole Laos border thing and they always have colorful stories about the experience. I know that I will definitely not be doing that and instead I will be visiting other countries for 3 months at a time just to avoid it. Since my experience may be a little different than most, i might be just talking about myself but I am going to take a 2 year holiday from working and instead of being able to just relax in Thailand, I am spending at least half of that 2 years in OTHER beaches, in OTHER overpopulated cities, spending my vacations dollars in other currencies. Really, what is a $100 visa discount on my 2 year holiday gonna do. I don't mean to be sour but I am currently talking to the local Embassy trying to figure out options for a longer stay and it is a little frustrating. They are nice and helpful. I don't mean to take away from the local office. I just wish they had some better options to offer me. Sorry in advance if this seems to rant a bit.