Health or Travel Insurance?

[up-country_sinclair]

Hi,

 

I'm not entirely sure which type of insurance I should get, and thought I'd ask those with more experience.  Quite frankly, I don't understand much at all about health insurance.

 

The particulars:

• I'm 50 years old and I'll be arriving in Thailand this January on a Non-O based on marriage, but will be in and out of Thailand for the first 3 or 4 months of the year.  However, my main "residence" will be Thailand during that time. 
• I'll be spending a few weeks in Europe and perhaps a week or two in the US assisting family members with various things. 
• I won't be employed during that time.
• At the end of those 3-4 months, I will reside permanently reside in Thailand and will need health insurance.
• There is a very good possibility that my wife will get a job with reasonable health insurance during those first few months, and I assume I'll be eligible for cover.

 

In you opinion, what type of insurance should I get for those first 3-4 months?

 

Happy to supply more information if needed.

 

Thanks!

[scorecard]

 

I cannot answer your specific points.

 

I travel out of Thailand frequently to lecture in adjoining countries and I always call CHUBB Insurance in Bangkok to get some travel and health insurance combined for the time I'm out of Thailand (usually 7 to 10 days). They have different packages / coverage , obviously from cheap to expensive. 

 

CHUBB has good logical English speaking staff who are good listeners and I've found them very helpful. Maybe worth a call, number is 0 2611 4242.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I believe as a general rule, travel insurance means coverage for the countries OTHER than where you are residing when you take out the coverage.

 

So for instance, if you had a U.S. address and bought travel insurance at that time, it would NOT cover you for the U.S. but would cover you elsewhere.

 

You can get travel/medical insurance to cover periods up to 3-4 months and even longer. But plan your purchase at a location OTHER than where you plan to be spending your 3-4 months.. 

 

What you plan to do/where you plan to be AFTER the 3-4 month period doesn't much matter, as your policy will have expired by then anyway.

 

AFAIK, regular health insurance policies are typically sold for one-year periods. You can buy such a policy once you're residing in Thailand (assuming you're under age 65), and it would cover you inside Thailand and in other countries as well (depending on the particular policy).

 

But the Thai policies typically exclude everything but emergency care in the expensive countries like the U.S., some European countries, Japan, etc.

 

Edited October 25, 2017 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Spock]

So you cannot get health insurance in Thailand after 65? 

[spetersen]

 

20 minutes ago, Spock said:

So you cannot get health insurance in Thailand after 65? 

Yes you can get a medical insurance . it's several insurance companies that will cover you. My insurance cover even emergencies abroad. 

[scorecard]

1 minute ago, spetersen said:

 

Yes you can get a medical insurance . it's several insurance companies that will cover you. My insurance cover even emergencies abroad. 

 

I'm sure many members would like to know the name of the insurance company.

 

Please share the company name. Thank you.

[jippytum]

Take out worldwide travel insurance for your period of travel that includes sickness ,accident and loss of property .

Also take out health insurance in Thailand . If in the future you are covered by your wife's insurance cancel the health policy if required and obtain refund of premiums for the unexpired portion.

[spetersen]

2 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

I'm sure many members would like to know the name of the insurance company.

 

Please share the company name. Thank you.

Thai Life www.thailife.com . Both Thai and English to a decent cost 

[khunPer]

"Health or Travel insurance..?"

 

It's depending of the purpose with your stay in LoS, and the small text at the actual insurance.

 

To my knowledge:

A Travel Insurance is, as the word says, an insurance when travelling abroad from the country/state where you're permanent resident. If that is Thailand, you will not be covered inside Thailand. If your (registered) permanent residence is abroad, you will be covered when travelling to Thailand, and while being in Thailand, during the maximum duration of the Travel Insurance; even a so-called "full year insurance" may only cover travel duration of for example up to 60 days, but you can begin a new 60-day travelling period, as soon as you have returned to your registered home country.

 

A Travel Insurance is not a Health Insurance, so only temporary emergency is covered, and the insurance will normally repatriate you to your home country, i.e. permanent residence, as soon as possible for further treatment there. However a travel insurance may be a cheaper product than a Health Insurance – i.e. no health cover – and it also covers additional situations like damaged or stolen luggage, and bail fee and lawyer in case of accidents; all depending of the text in the policy.

 

A Health Insurance can be World Wide, or for an area only, for example Thailand, or South East Asia, or named group of countries; the latter, for an area or a single country only, is normally cheaper. A Heath Insurance covers health, and often also Personal Accident, only; i.e. no luggagage or bail out, or repatriation (depending on terms, for example a World Wide cover, and small text). 

 

A Health Insurance will normally exclude preexisting diseases; i.e. not full cover the first six month, and depending of heath history, you can expect some exclusions; for example some Health Insurances don't cover cancer treatment, and/or HIV/AIDS-treatment.

 

Some Health Insurances has limitations in financial cover, and it's worth being aware of that some cases – accident and illness – can be quite costly in private hospitals, even in Thailand. Basically it's all a question of price, meaning how high premium one is prepared to pay.

 

Wish you a good time in LoS...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

3 hours ago, spetersen said:

Thai Life www.thailife.com . Both Thai and English to a decent cost 

 

The choices for people over age 65 to take out new medical insurance in Thailand are VERY limited. There are just a few companies that will write such policies, most will not. (Of course, AFAIK, the OP hasn't yet mentioned his age in this thread. But I mentioned the age 65 issue as a general caution to others reading here).

 

I'm not aware of ThaiLife as being one of those companies. And more to the point, I'm not aware of ThaiLife as being a particularly well-known MEDICAL insurance provider, as opposed to life insurance, which usually is vastly overpriced in Thailand.

 

Will they even write standalone health insurance policies? Or they'll only include some medical coverage if someone also takes out a life insurance policy with them?

 

 

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

The choices for people over age 65 to take out new medical insurance in Thailand are VERY limited. There are just a few companies that will write such policies, most will not. (Of course, AFAIK, the OP hasn't yet mentioned his age in this thread. But I mentioned the age 65 issue as a general caution to others reading here).

 

On 10/24/2017 at 6:46 PM, up-country_sinclair said:

I'm 50 years old and I'll be arriving in Thailand this January on a Non-O based on marriage, but will be in and out of Thailand for the first 3 or 4 months of the year.  However, my main "residence" will be Thailand during that time.

[kbelyeu]

I'd just use worldnomads.com until you decide to settle down.  You can continue extending the policy for up to a year.

 

Kurt

[simon43]

Quote

• There is a very good possibility that my wife will get a job with reasonable health insurance during those first few months, and I assume I'll be eligible for cover
• [/quote]

In Thailand, I would not assume that will be the case....

Edited October 26, 2017 by simon43

[Sheryl]

With few exceptions, employed people in Thailand are covered under the Thai Social Security scheme, for which there is a small payroll deduction. It's good insurance but does not cover spouse or any other  family members.  Only civil servant coverage does that, so unless your wife will be a civil servant this is likely not going to help you.

 

You omitted a number of important details in your post:

- Do you have access to free medical care in your home country and will you be maintaining some sort of address there?

- Once you settle in Thailand, do you envision returning regularly tio your home country? How often?

 

Understand that travel insurance coverage is not the same as regular health insurance, it is designed only to cover emergency/urgent care, and depending on the nature of the problem and local costs,  they might  only pay for you to return home for care rather than pay for care in the country you are in at the time. It will not cover elective procedures or even essential ones that can wait, so it is no substitute for health insurance unless you are sure you have the option of getting health care in your home country should you return there.

 

Assuming that during the first year you would have no problem returning to your home country and that you can get free health care there, an initial travel policy makes sense. With both travel insurance and expat health insurance policies, cover that includes the US dramatically increases cost - so much so that it would be better for you to get a policy that excludes the US and then take out a US policy for just the 2 weeks you'll be there.

 

After that, unless you expect to keep going back and forth, maintaining an address in your homer country and not being away for more than a year at a stretch, you will need a regular health insurance policy. There are a lot of factors to take into account so do your research well. Note that it is NOT necessary to buy a policy from a Thai insurer, there are expat policies issued by EU and UK based insurers that will cover Thailand and have direct billing arrangements with Thai hospitals.

[Sheryl]

18 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

The choices for people over age 65 to take out new medical insurance in Thailand are VERY limited. There are just a few companies that will write such policies, most will not. ...

 

 

True only if you mean policies issued by Thai companies.

 

There are a number of international insurers with expat policies who will insure well beyond that age.

 

For some reason people always seem to think that to be insured here, one must by a policy from a Thai company. Not the case.  Many international expat policies have direct billing arrangemens with Thai hospitals and the terms of their policies are  better than most of the policies those issued in Thailand.

[scubascuba3]

Get travel insurance for the first period but a couple of things to note, often in the policy doc they have clauses:
- need to be in the country you are permanently resident for 6 months prior to travel.

- there is an intention to return to your permanent residency. So let's say you are from US, buy insurance there but don't buy a return ticket they may decline any claim. If you read the policy doc they often have various tests to see if there is an intention to return.

Moral to the story, read the policy doc before purchasing

[GOLDBUGGY]

I would get Travel Insurance for a week or two for Thailand, and before you leave. Once here you can make other arrangements.

 

As somebody already mentioned, Insurance Companies like CHUBB and BUPA offer both Medical Insurance for Thailand, and also Travel Insurance outside of Thailand to.

 

What you need to do is to first figure out how long you will be in Thailand and on what dates, and also how long you will be out of Thailand, what dates, and where. From that you can calculate what you need for Travel Insurance, and from where. Also if you require Medical Coverage in Thailand during your stay.

 

I don't think you should put too much faith in your wife's medial cover for you and until you have had a chance to review this. The coverage may be very basic at pre-selected government hospitals. They are okay for a regular check up, and Out Patent Service. But I am not sure I would be happy stuck in a hospital room full of other patents, and getting second rate attention.

 

So in that case I would prefer good Medical Insurance Coverage with access for Private Hospitals. I was hospitalized once here for about 4 days and was fortunate to be in a good Private Hospital, in a Private Room equal to any 5 Star Hotel and 2 or 3 doctor visits a day. Where Nurses actually came running when you rang the buzzer, and all with smiling faces.      

[GOLDBUGGY]

You also might want to check with your Medical Coverage you have back home. Many will provide Travel Insurance to other countries. You may even have coverage for the 3 months in Thailand through them. Then once here, you can get additional Travel Insurance for the other countries you want to visit.