Health / Accident insurance for Thai wife

[moogradod]

My wife will need a new health insurance once we have moved to Thailand next year. She will as well need an accident insurance.

 

She will be 39 years old by then and she has no previous illnesses (exept for overweight which I do not know if this counts). Because of an operation she cannot have any more children as well.

 

The insurance should at least cover OP cost and first treatment in any first class private hospital. I have heard that this can be had for about 23'000.-- THB per year - but I do not know which insurance.

 

A second step would then be first treatment including any after care including medicaments - as we have now.

 

May I ask anybody with experience how to start, what we can expect and maybe a recommendation of an insurance ? She will need an acccident insurance as well but this might be a seperate issue.

 

I thank you all for any contributions.

[topt]

I am presuming your wife is a foreign national - IE not Thai?

To get you started here is a list provided to me by AA Insurance brokers. I can confirm the prices are the same as going direct as I already had some of the quotes prior to talking to them.

You would need to check out the levels of cover to see if they meet your needs. Most of these policies are more for in patient only where you can add OP but the cost goes up significantly. 

08-13-2018 comparison PDF.pdf

 

This list does not show some of the Thai based insurance policies which may be cheaper but with much lower limits.

 

I would also suggest having a read of some older threads in this forum with a lot of good information from @Sheryl

There was also a couple of recent threads in the Health forum.

Hope this helps get you started 

[Sheryl]

The title says Thai wife so I assume she is Thai.

 

As a Thai, she is covered under the universal health scheme and access to all care, free (or for a nominal 30 baht) at the government hospital which covers the area where she is registered in a tabian ban - a factor to consider when deciding where to live.

 

If you want to be able to get care in private hospitals, and if she will nto be employed, then yes, that would warrant private insurance.

 

I do not understand what you mean by "OP cost and first treatment" and "first treatment including any after care including medicaments ".

 

If by OP you mean outpatient, you will find that premiums for policies that include outpatient care are very high and not worth it relative to the comparatively low cost of outpatient visits here, and so really not worth it.  It will be cheaper to just pay out of pocket and limit the insurance to hospitalization (inpatient).

 

Most Thais do not get private insurance at all but rather rely on the government system or (if employed) Social Security, both of which provide free care inclusive of inpatient, outpatient, medications etc.

[moogradod]

Thank you all for the answers.

 

Yes, my wife has a Thai passport, not employed.

 

She is registered in a tabien baan where her parents live - (Ampoe Sikhio) far away from where we will live (Najomtien). She said once that cannot be changed.

 

So the 30 THB insurance does not cover her in a government hospital in Pattaya, Sattahip, Rayong etc ?

 

Ampoe Sikhio is not acceptable for health care, better is Nakhorn Ratchasima which is the Changwat. But in case of an emergency I may never transfer her there.

 

With "OP" I meant "Operation", not "outpatient". I have heard that some insurances will cover the first treatment incl. operations but not if you leave the hospital and you would have to pay for the medicaments. And this in the range of lets say THB 20 - 40'000.-- annually which I think is sort of reasonable.

 

Currently we live in Switzerland and our insurance here covers EVERTHING health related including the medicamentation - even if it would be permanent. I suspect this would be of course very much more expensive in Thailand. But my wife is only 39 and has no previous illnesses. This would keep the premiums lower I hope.

 

My wife could conclude an international insurance before we will leave, but this seems to be expensive. Will call the agent next week and I suspect that the same insurance like AXA, AIA etc. can be had in Thailand as well. Easier to administer.

 

I will as well contact AAinsurance brokers once we stay in Thailand definitely although I had once contact with them concerning a household insurance - and it was a catastrophy, but I hope they (resp. the insurance they represent) are better in the health insurance sector.

 

If someone has a concrete recommendation for a good health insurance for a Thai national then please let me know.

 

And - thank you - I forgot to add.

 

[stevenl]

Why try to sort out something complicated like this yourself when you clearly don't know the basics of this in Thailand.

 

Ask a broker, the already mentioned AA would be a good start.

[BritManToo]

On 11/16/2018 at 4:42 PM, moogradod said:

May I ask anybody with experience how to start, what we can expect and maybe a recommendation of an insurance ? She will need an acccident insurance as well but this might be a seperate issue.

 

She is registered in a tabien baan where her parents live - (Ampoe Sikhio) far away from where we will live (Najomtien). She said once that cannot be changed.

The free government health care is entirely satisfactory (assuming she has free time for the queue).

Why buy private insurance on top?

 

Not true, it's very easy to change, she just needs a home owner with a house book.

When I was renting a house, I gave the landlady 1,000bht to use her house book for my partner.

[moogradod]

6 hours ago, BritManToo said:

The free government health care is entirely satisfactory (assuming she has free time for the queue).

Why buy private insurance on top?

Maybe because private hospitals are better - concerning qualification of doctors and equipment ? And because my wife might not easily change the tabien baan ? (see below)

6 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Not true, it's very easy to change, she just needs a home owner with a house book.

When I was renting a house, I gave the landlady 1,000bht to use her house book for my partner.

I am renting an apartment but I dont know if the owner (investor heavyweight in the area - I have never met him personally, only his assistant) would let my wife use his house book. And if we would leave the place then she would need again to change.

[moogradod]

8 hours ago, stevenl said:

Why try to sort out something complicated like this yourself when you clearly don't know the basics of this in Thailand.

 

Ask a broker, the already mentioned AA would be a good start.

You are correct - I dont know the basics of this in Thailand, that is the reason of me posting here and yes - I will ask AA as well.

[Sheryl]

Tabien Ban listing CAN be changed. It necessitates a trip to the amphur office of both the old and new place of residence but definitely can be done and should be. I suggest you not rent from a landlird unwilling to cooperate in this. It is not necessary to change if you move unless yoy move to an area covered by a different hospital that you prefer.

 

Insurance policies in Thailand and internationally issued expat policies do not differentiate based on "first" treatment or after treatment. I have never heard of a policy that does that. They differentiate by inoatient and outpatient. Some policies, for example April My Health International, will cover outpatient visits related to a hospitalization if within say 30 days in an otherwise inpatient only policy.

 

As explained selecting inpatient plus outpatient coverage is extremely expensive and the additional annual cost will be much more than likely cost if self pay for outpatient care.

 

Being in good health will affect whether she can get a policy and whether it would contain any exclusions. It does not affect premiums. Insurance operates on the basis of risk pooling. The main factor in premium cost is age, and premiuns rise steadily as one gets older with especially steep increases after age 60/65.

 

An internationally issued hospitalization only policy for a 39 year old will cost around 25 - 40,000 a year depending on policy. That will rise to 65-100k by age 60.

 

Thai issued policies with adequate levels of cover are NOT less expensive, and often contain undesirable provisions. The health insurance market in Thailand is very small due to the universal coverage system for Thai citizens.

 

There are less expensive Thai issued policies but with such low caps on benefits as to be not worth having IMO.

 

 

 

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[BritManToo]

32 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Tabien Ban listing CAN be changed. It necessitates a trip to the amphur office of both the old and new place of residence

1

Done this a couple of times with my family now (8 years back @ Mae Rim, 5 years back @ SanSai).

There was never any suggestion of visiting the previous Amphur office, Just the new Amphur with the new blue book plus blue book owner, and all their ID cards.

[chakatee]

Unless your wife has Swiss nationality as well she may not be able to get international insurance policy but only Thai insurance. Most international policy are underwritten for expats and can't be in name of someone in his/her own country unless he/she is riding along on an expatriate's policy.

[Sheryl]

Unless your wife has Swiss nationality as well she may not be able to get international insurance policy but only Thai insurance. Most international policy are underwritten for expats and can't be in name of someone in his/her own country unless he/she is riding along on an expatriate's policy.

This is true. She would have to apply as a Swiss citizen. I am assuming she has dual nationality.

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[moogradod]

Thanks chakatee and Sheryl

 

That she needs to be a Swiss citizen is surprizing.

We are both foreigners here in Switzerland, I am German and my wife is Thai. We both have permanent residence but did never apply for Swiss citizenship - which we could have.

 

The idea of an international insurance came up because it was recommended by an immigration consulting company here in Switzerland (they know which passports we are holding) and I was subsequently contacted by an international insurance broker. I will follow up with him immediately and let you know. Might be of interest for others as well.

 

I anyway suspect that an international insurance is more costly and maybe more complicated if a claim needs to be issued. A Thai insurance would be fine if it pays for private hospitals incl. all doctor fees and medicaments while treated as an inpatient. (This in/outpatient distinction is new to us because here in CH everything is paid all the time).

 

Relying on the 30 Baht scheme would obviously require change of Tabien Baan (then based on the condo we rent currently). But what happens if we would need to change the apartment (we do not want to but maybe the rental fee is exploding sometime). Change again the Tabien Baan then ? This would not be nice.