Village Insurance on family members

[Shifty]

My wife has pays insurance to the amphor? on her mother and aunties in our local village. She says it is to pay for the said relatives cremation and "party" costs which might include stage performance singing and dancing etc.

Apparently this is common practice. Can someone explain what this actually means and what are the benefits, especially the part of the aunties where there own siblings have also taken out insurance on them.

[jackdd]

I don't know how common this is, but i've heard of it before, so you are not alone ????

If it makes sense does depend on the financial standing of the person, as with every insurance.

When a Thai dies the relatives usually make a "party" over several days. Depending on the number of days, guests and so on such a party might cost them 100k, if a Thai ears 8k a month then this is of course a small fortune for him. So for him such a village insurance makes sense. Of course nobody is forced to do such a party, but it's expected and i would say hardly anybody would refuse it.

 

If paying 100k out of the own pocket (maybe also for 2 or 3 different relatives within a few months) is no problem for somebody (or if there are many siblings who share the costs) there is of course no need to take out such an insurance.

[Moonlover]

Very common. Probably every village has this kind of arrangement. And I am included in our village fund, so I don't have to worry about the financial burden on my wife if I predecease her. (or vise-versa)

 

When I first came here I used to wonder how these apparently poor communities could afford these, often quite lavish send offs. Now I know how.

 

I am a bit puzzled though when you said she pays to the amphor @Shifty

Do you mean the Poya Baan? That seems more likely.

[55Jay]

I remember this.  A notice/bill would come in the post box, it was about  2,000/year for each of my wife's parents, paid into an account at a government bank - something like the farmer/agricultural bank (not quite sure).  The collective fund is used to pay costs when old folks die.  My wife's father passed away in the town's small government hospital/clinic a couple years ago and she estimates they received about 100,000 in benefit payouts from the fund.  Other family members and I pitched in more.  We didn't have a party, stage and dancing girls.  It was just religious stuff, and paying to install a monument at the local Wat for his ash vessel. 

[colinneil]

In our village every time somebody who is in the insurance scheme dies, collector comes round for 50 baht.

So we pay 100 baht because we are both in the scheme.

The payout is 20.000 baht on the death of a member.

[473geo]

For years now my wife pays 'insurance' monthly for her and her mother - to the Amphur.

Thai rural people clearly believe in a good send off, the 'insurance' option allows preparation for the costs, reasonably small input monthly ensures they will have the 'proper' departure and remembrance. No stress.

 

Don't know if there is a payout for an unexpected early departure, if this is a pre-set amount, or based on time in the scheme and value of input. Perhaps there are others who could clarify. Comments from my wife suggest this may be the case, but I don't dwell on death, so happy for my wife to organise as she sees fit.

[cooked]

I believe, in our village at least, that there exists the above mentioned insurance scheme, about THB2500/yearly, and as well as that, the guy with the big book comes around to collect THB200 from each household after every decease. (Good idea, as many can't afford the 2500/person). Now, as it gets hot, we hear that bang bang bang more frequently, as we do when the rainy season starts.

A relative died recently and although she was living in Chonburi, her papers were still here, we got 5000, which just about covered travel costs to Chonburi and back. 

[connda]

In our village when a villager dies each village member pays 200 THB into the village fund for cremations.  If a villager dies, the fund pays out 200k THB for all of the expenses associated with the death and cremation.  It's like a big party.  Thais throw open all the stops.  It's also generally a village affair.  People show up to eat, meet, and chat, then on day three it up the road to the crematorium.  Definitely more real than the morbidity associated with Western funerals, plus the financial crowd-funding allows even the poorest folk to have a good send off. 

[PJPom]

I have experienced this a couple of times and it is Crowd Funding that I totally approve, a small envelope is usually handed out with the initial refreshments and people contribute according to their means.

To sit with people you have never met before, eat, drink, play cards and generally socialise in a quite happy environment is refreshing and totally different from what we expect in the west.

 The deceased in The elaborately dressed container get a simple Wai from all attendees and is then disposed of by cremation at the appointed  time,  it seems so simple and appropriate.

[john2211]

is this type of death insurance available in places like Huahin?