Pattaya expat worries: unofficial survey

[727Sky]

I think if you are married to Thai and are truly living at the residence of record then a once a year renewal should be adequate. They would have to have a penalty for not reporting a death within the years reporting schedule. It won't happen because money is involved.... or they would jack the one year fee up to the point it would be burdensome.  

[baansgr]

Its almost impossible for over 70s to obtain health insurance, the few companies that offer it charge anything upto 40,000 per month and that wont include existing conditions. The Government could look at offering healthcare at a reasonable subscription, only problem then is would it attract health tourism as does the NHS in the UK and start loosing money. Many guys say if they get that sick will get a flight back to their own country but airlines will refuse boarding if you are too sick, so not such a simple option.

[Henricus]

We the long-term farang have all the time in the world to do the 90 days.

 

Insurance for people over 50 years is easy to get even till your 90 and it cost a bit, but 1 time in the hospital for a few days is more than 10 years of your insurance.do this before you get over 65 and the most companies will keep you in the insurance, Its cost of living. 

 

Immigration rules are easy just follow them and nobody will have a problem and if you can not follow the rules you don`t belong here.

I see people go to immigration for retirement extension and trow 20-25 copy`s on the desk and start complaining about the officer wen he send you away.

Read before you go there and just take what you need you make the people behind you happy.

And don`t forget those officers are there to help you be nice and polite to them they are working to get a living just what you also did.            

Edited September 20, 2017 by Henricus

[mikebell]

There should be insurance for trumped up police charges.  

[Pattaya46]

19 minutes ago, Henricus said:

We the long-term farang have all the time in the world to do the 90 days.     

How that? Long-term doesn't imply retired.

[Get Real]

It seems like every person that chooses to live in another country would have the brains to get insurance where they stay. Everything alse is stupid, so where is the problem wiht that?
 

Always a lot of worries. Always a lot of complaints. Why just not accept how it is in Thailand. If can not do that, it´s probably not the right place to stay.

[stephenterry]

IMO, I think the main worries Pattaya ex-pats (with no disrespect) would have is Pattaya itself, including other ex-pats. It's a place that just drags one down into acceptance of seediness as being the norm. I lived there for a couple of years, and praise Buddha for letting me see the light.     

[retarius]

I do hope they will allow some form of self medical insurance. I self insure on my cars, why not my healthcare if I have the funds?

[zaphod reborn]

Frankly, judging from the TV forums, I'd say the Brit ex-pats are more concerned about the recent increase in alcohol and tobacco taxes than visa or healthcare issues.

[bert bloggs]

1 hour ago, stephenterry said:

IMO, I think the main worries Pattaya ex-pats (with no disrespect) would have is Pattaya itself, including other ex-pats. It's a place that just drags one down into acceptance of seediness as being the norm. I lived there for a couple of years, and praise Buddha for letting me see the light.     

Well after 12 years it has not dragged me or any of my friends down , as Oscar Wilde said "we are all in the gutter but some of us are looking up at the stars" why should it drag us down ,for most of us married guys life goes on as it does at the place we came from  ,we watch tv ,do the garden ,read ,come on here to post ,or moan . and go to bed at 10 after a hot drink with the wife . as for insurance , it is to expensive  for most ,in fact ,with any luck we just die quick after living the good life , my Thai wife and our son could have stayed in the UK working till i drop to have a good lifestyle ,,but then hey if i got ill i could have ended my days in hospital ,free of charge .

[Jingthing]

4 hours ago, inThailand said:

Does any country mandate it's expats must have medical insurance?

Yes.

Many.

Next ...

[inThailand]

4 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Yes.

Many.

Next ...

And they are?

 

Unlike Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, etc?

The countries that must expats would relocate to.

[hansnl]

5 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

I think some sort of medical insurance requirement will happen in the near future.  And I don't mean just travel insurance.  I would be buying some local Thai insurance if I do semi retire there, so that in itself is not a worry to me, except if they mandate it, and then the costs are driven up because foreigners now must have it.

Except, when you are 70, end of insurance.

Maybe it is time for Thailand to introduce insurance for expats, in-patient only, state hospitals only?

There was such a plan, but it seems to be on hold.

Edited September 20, 2017 by hansnl

[Jingthing]

5 minutes ago, inThailand said:

And they are?

 

Unlike Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, etc?

The countries that must expats would relocate to.

Ecuador. E.U. countries for non E.U. citizens. Malaysia in My Second Home scheme. Others as well. Google is your amigo. 

Edited September 20, 2017 by Jingthing

[Mickmouse1]

Is it not good for you Chaps to have peace of mind and carry health insurance? I don't know what all the fuss is about? 

Get it locally or through a UK Co. 

Many International health Insurance Policies are available everywhere. 

?

[eliotness]

3 hours ago, oxo1947 said:

And the last time that you know of a person going for a 90 check and being  kicked out of the country because the officer was having a bad day ....Was when Bob ???........

Saw one guy, aged mid 50s being refused re-entry from Cambodia.  Not sure of the actual circumstances but the guy was very confused and upset.  Bit uneasy seeing it happen.

[Bob12345]

3 hours ago, oxo1947 said:

And the last time that you know of a person going for a 90 check and being  kicked out of the country because the officer was having a bad day ....Was when Bob ???........

For some reason you focus on the 90-day reporting only, but we meet immigration officials for more reasons. 

I do at least. 

 

Once a year you also need to renew/extend your visa for example.

And on a regular basis the government decides to change the requirements for those visa's.

 

For example they can decide tomorrow that you need 800k in a bank account for a marriage visa and 1.6mln for a retirement visa.

Do you really think every foreigner in Thailand is able to meet these changed criteria? 

 

The main point I am trying to make, and which you don't seem to grasp yet, is that there are little rights for foreigners here and your "permission to stay" can be revoked by the stroke of a pen. 

Good luck with your house, pension, apartment, dogs, and kids going to the local school. Maybe they can keep in contact through skype from across the border. How certain are you that you will be able to stay in Thaialdn for another 5 years? You simply do not know.

 

This unlike many European countries where rules are much more stable, people refused have official routes to appeal decisions made by immigration, and there are opportunities to get permanent residency giving you a guarantee you can stay.

[inThailand]

21 minutes ago, Mickmouse1 said:

Is it not good for you Chaps to have peace of mind and carry health insurance? I don't know what all the fuss is about? 

Get it locally or through a UK Co. 

Many International health Insurance Policies are available everywhere. 

?

Back home, totally agree with you.

 

Here? You have peace of mind from paying a Thai insurance company?

[tryasimight]

3 hours ago, inThailand said:

As usual more questions than answers and since they are clueless it will just fade away.

Who are 'they' who are 'clueless' in the context of this thread?

The newspaper?

The expats surveyed?

What will fade away?

[tryasimight]

1 hour ago, retarius said:

I do hope they will allow some form of self medical insurance. I self insure on my cars, why not my healthcare if I have the funds?

Self insure is just another way of saying I have no insurance and hope to hell nothing goes wrong for most people.

[inThailand]

9 minutes ago, tryasimight said:

Who are 'they' who are 'clueless' in the context of this thread?

The newspaper?

The expats surveyed?

What will fade away?

The idea of mandatory medical insurance for expats. Its just a brain fart and it will fade into the sunset. 

[tryasimight]

From what I have seen and read over the years on this and other fora is the elephant in the room.

 

That is that people have unrealistic expectations.

 

They heard about a friend of a friend living the life of luxury in Thailand and decide they can do this as well.

A quick 2 week holiday has them convinced.

They move to Thailand and then the reality sets in.

 

Is it really reasonable to expect to live like a king on only the old age pension?

Anywhere?

For any length of time?

It may have been many years ago, but times have changed.

People may be able to survive on just the OAP, but not much more.

Too many, I believe, are living on the edge - a change in exchange rates may push them over.

 

Nobody wants to admit they made a mistake and end up living very differently than what they had imagined.

Many will not or cannot return home.

 

The old guy on the pension with the young beautiful girl - living the dream - until cash gets tight then he is absolutely devastated when she leaves and not a thing he can do about it except, as we see in so many cases, taking his own life.

 

The Visa issues (if there are any), 90 day reports are, in the bigger picture, quite minor.

 

That's my 2 bobs worth.

 

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by tryasimight

[Jingthing]

I would be fine with an insurance requirement here IF the Thai government offered a program allowing expats to buy into a government insurance scheme even at an inflated cost (would expect that here). It might be very basic but good enough to satisfy a basic requirement, and then expats could choose to purchase better private supplemental insurance in addition. If they do not offer a government insurance option which of course they almost definitely won't, then yes, an insurance requirement will definitely shake out many expats that won't purchase insurance because of these main reasons --

 

-- Too old

-- Preexisting conditions that no private company will underwrite

-- Cost

 

What percentage would be shaken out? I can only guess. I'd say at least 25 percent. 

 

It could be argued that the Thai government would be happy to shake out those expats. That's purely their choice as a sovereign nation. 

Edited September 20, 2017 by Jingthing

[Blue bruce]

My Thai wife entered America recently without health insurance .

[Krataiboy]

6 hours ago, LazySlipper said:

 

For me depends on insurance availability based on age. What happens when I am over 65? How easy is it to find insurance after this point on?

 

70-75? is it available?

 

Insurance companies should change their benchmark and take into consideration that the expected age of death is now almost fifteen to twenty years that which it was before...

No, unless you have a history of being insured with the same company - and even then the premiums are likely to be prohibitive.

[mikecha]

5 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Probably, if we arrived in a fishing boat or rubber dinghy with 14 children, no paperwork, no home to go to, and no job !

Thats humour   and is happeing even now this visa is realy a pain and all the other red tape 

[pattayadgw]

I think health insurance will come not to only us in retirement here but to anyone wanting a visa to come here for holidays.  I feel the main concern to me is if they decide to 'wipe out' the 1 year retirement visa and make every who wants to stay has to go to the 10 year visa or its pack ya bags.  They do seem to be hell bent on having only people with big bucks living here and if it did happen to go that way it will certainly bite them on the bum down the road.  I'm only thinking out aloud to myself on this and they have said the 1 year will stay... but for how long is the million dollar question.

[oxo1947]

2 hours ago, Bob12345 said:

For some reason you focus on the 90-day reporting only, but we meet immigration officials for more reasons. 

I do at least.

Bob I focused on the 90 day--because I was answering an OP who thought that the main worry of ex-pats was that they had to do a 90 check..you jumped in on that with all the fears pills of people being deported just because the officer was having a bad day..although it seems you have never seen this.

 

 

 

--"We meet immigration officers for more reasons"...WHAT reasons??... I don’t

 

2 hours ago, Bob12345 said:

Once a year you also need to renew/extend your visa for example.

And on a regular basis the government decides to change the requirements for those visa's.

For example they can decide tomorrow that you need 800k in a bank account for a marriage visa and 1.6mln for a retirement visa.

Bob anyway you cut it...its still just 4 times a year...3 x90 days..+ you will renew your Visa at the end of the  last one...

 

 

 

Bob they have never changed the rule since it came in 15 or so years ago--always been this amount.

2 hours ago, Bob12345 said:

Good luck with your house, pension, apartment, dogs, and kids going to the local school. Maybe they can keep in contact through skype from across the border.

Have you always lived your life in Fear Bob....??

 

When I hear someone say

Life is hard

I always want to ask

Compared to what…….

 

S-Harris

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by oxo1947

[CH1961]

8 hours ago, inThailand said:

Does any country mandate it's expats must have medical insurance?

yessssss ... Switzerland.

[Pattaya46]

57 minutes ago, oxo1947 said:

Bob I focused on the 90 day--because I was answering an OP who thought that the main worry of ex-pats was that they had to do a 90 check..

// 

"We meet immigration officers for more reasons"...WHAT reasons??... I don’t

 

Not everyone is going 4 times a year meet immigration for 90-days report.

• You need to stay more the 90 days consecutively  (many often travel in neighbouring countries)
• You need to want to make it at immigration (many prefer to do it online)

The main reasons for me to visit immigration :

• getting a new 1-year extension for being over 50yo + re-entry permit
• getting an attestation of residence (if buying a new bike or other unusual action)