Mandatory health insurance for foreigners aged over 50 in Thailand - why it may not affect you

[monkfish]

59 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

It isn't a 'farang' charge, it's a foreigner charge, Laos and Burma citizens pay it as well.

Yes that's what I said and it's Ok with me if that would help cover their loses anyway just an idea.

[peter2186]

I hope this doesn't apply to me, why pay money to an insurance company who will find a million reasons not to pay and attend a third rate hospital who give a sub standard service - went to hospital with what was diagnosed as Gastroenteritis, though the 20 year old doctor wasn't sure and put me through an X ray for some obscure reason and gave me anti-biotics that have a contra indication of causing stomach pain - I'd rather pay for a flight if possible and get treated elsewhere

[Don Mega]

10 minutes ago, peter2186 said:

I hope this doesn't apply to me, why pay money to an insurance company who will find a million reasons not to pay and attend a third rate hospital who give a sub standard service - went to hospital with what was diagnosed as Gastroenteritis, though the 20 year old doctor wasn't sure and put me through an X ray for some obscure reason and gave me anti-biotics that have a contra indication of causing stomach pain - I'd rather pay for a flight if possible and get treated elsewhere

So no insurance and gamble that the medical issue leaves you fit enough for commercial flight ?

 

Sounds like a winning plan that one.

[losername]

On ‎5‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 1:59 PM, userabcd said:

The visa in your passport shows it is either an O visa or an O-A visa

Forgive me, please, for not reading all 29 pages of this thread but what is the difference between O and O-A?  I have O issued in my home country followed by extensions based on retirement.  Thanks for your help.

[55Jay]

18 minutes ago, losername said:

Forgive me, please, for not reading all 29 pages of this thread but what is the difference between O and O-A?  I have O issued in my home country followed by extensions based on retirement.  Thanks for your help.

Look at the visa in the photo on Page 1 of the OP.  Says "O-A".

 

If you don't have one of those, then you likely have a single entry Non-O, good for 90-days, extendable thereafter. 

 

Edit:  The Permission to Stay is extended, not the visa itself. 

[55Jay]

On 5/15/2019 at 2:01 PM, connda said:

For now.....
Here you go:

Right.... does feel like they are floating a policy balloon.  Immigration has been emboldened by their recent successes taking on sacred cows. 

[ThaiBunny]

4 minutes ago, 55Jay said:

Right.... does feel like they are floating a policy balloon.  Immigration has been emboldened by their recent successes taking on sacred cows. 

"Just because you're paranoid that doesn't mean they're not coming to get you"

[losername]

19 minutes ago, 55Jay said:

Look at the visa in the photo on Page 1 of the OP.  Says "O-A".

 

If you don't have that one of those, then you likely have a single entry Non-O, good for 90-days then extendable thereafter. 

 

Edit:  The Permission to Stay is extended, not the visa itself. 

Thanks for that.  Sadly mine is quite clearly a Non-Immigrant "O" allowing Multiple Journeys.  It had to be used within a year which I did and I have been extending the permission to stay ever since.  My question related purely to the O vs O-A issue.  It's a mystery (to me anyway).

[BritManToo]

41 minutes ago, Don Mega said:

So no insurance and gamble that the medical issue leaves you fit enough for commercial flight ?

Sounds like a winning plan that one.

My gamble worked out OK, no health insurance 90bht to see the doctor, 50bht foreigner surcharge, 120bht for the catheter and bag (total 260bht). I could then travel anywhere I liked in the world for month to get it fixed (but as I happens, I seem to be OK now).

 

Can't imagine there are many circumstances where a cheap fix doesn't allow you to travel without negative prognosis. Even heart attacks respond to a quick fix, allowing you to travel.

 

Impact accidents may need quicker repairs, but that would be covered by the vehicle insurance.

[Don Mega]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

My gamble worked out OK, no health insurance 90bht to see the doctor, 50bht foreigner surcharge, 120bht for the catheter and bag. I could then travel anywhere I liked in the world for month to get it fixed (but as I happens, I seem to be OK now).

 

Can't imagine there are many circumstances where a cheap fix doesn't allow you to travel without negative prognosis. Even heart attacks respond to a quick fix, allowing you to travel.

 

Impact accidents may need quicker repairs, but that would be covered by the vehicle insurance.

I gather your cheap fix was at a government hospital.

 

Interesting about accidents, if the vehicle insurance covers it why do so many visitors start a gofundme to pay the bills?

[Thingamabob]

For simplification I  suggest an extension of stay based on retirement be in future referred to as an ESBR. 

[Thingamabob]

On 5/15/2019 at 1:44 PM, jessc said:

I thought this article was clear and helpful, even if the rules still are not. Thanks!

However, a suggestion: should this new requirement for mandatory health insurance ever be extended to apply to extensions based on retirement, perhaps the health insurance that Thai Visa is selling (notably, right along side these articles) could also be available to the full range of retirees who've lived in Thailand for many years - - often because paying full rate for medical care in Thailand is STILL less expensive than buying insurance back home. Currently the Pacific Cross insurance Thai Visa is hawking only covers people to age 64.

The expats who will be most effected by this requirement, if applied to extensions based on retirement, are those who have retired here on a fixed income, and who have aged out of basically any insurance (affordable or otherwise) available for purchase in Thailand. So, even if financially able to buy the insurance, they can't. And, likely, have no where to go to if unable to stay in Thailand.

Excellent.

[madmen]

I gather your cheap fix was at a government hospital.
 
Interesting about accidents, if the vehicle insurance covers it why do so many visitors start a gofundme to pay the bills?

They buy a new car if it's a Stella performance go fund me

[TigerandDog]

4 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

The 6 approved companies have been offering their policies ever since the introduction of the OX visa a couple of years ago. They didnt just pop up yesterday offering longstay insurance. They didnt just get approval.

The policies have always included 40k outpatients coverage, its always been the OX requirement, OA insurance will be the same insurance. 

 

This website and the policies they offer came into exsistance a couple of years ago.

https://longstay.tgia.org

 

The same site appears on many Thai embassy websites as a guide to where you can get the appropriate insurance.

 

Have to correct you slightly on that. The Pacific Cross Platinum Plans for this insurance are brand NEW. They have only came into existence about 2-3 weeks ago.

[Artisi]

On Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at 1:42 PM, Teddy3943 said:

It's funny that sometimes immigration officers in various cities use various interpretations of their own laws...

You call that funny, it should be funny Ha Ha along the lines of the right hand not knowing what the left hand hand is doing - typical of Thailand in all aspect. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

17 minutes ago, TigerandDog said:

Have to correct you slightly on that. The Pacific Cross Platinum Plans for this insurance are brand NEW. They have only came into existence about 2-3 weeks ago.

 

It's kind of a mix of the two things....

 

The original O-X health insurance page that's been around for a while long had only 3 insurers listed, and none of them were ones particularly used by or well known by farangs...

 

Then more recently, the list expanded from 3 to 6 I believe, with the addition of Pacific Cross, AXA and I think one other. I don't know if the new ones were added because they were told the O-A requirement was coming, or whether they were finally just trying to get a piece of the very small O-X visa business.

 

[ThaiBunny]

29 minutes ago, TigerandDog said:

Have to correct you slightly on that. The Pacific Cross Platinum Plans for this insurance are brand NEW. They have only came into existence about 2-3 weeks ago.

While that is true, 5 of the 6 insurers clearly refer to the O-X visa when talking "long stay" by referring to the period ("5 years") and in most cases the "14 countries". Reviewing the age conditions most of them don't offer insurance to someone joining after age 75, although some of them guarantee renewal up to age 100. Only one of them doesn't mention a maximum joining age (Viriyah) and I'd almost be prepared to bet money that that's an oversight, not a feature.  The O-A visa is not mentioned.  Most have an annual maximum claimable amount - the lowest being the 400,000 baht figure

[losername]

14 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Then more recently, the list expanded from 3 to 6 I believe, with the addition of Pacific Cross, AXA and I think one other.

It's good to hear that they are capable of adding to the list.  I am with Aetna (Thailand), formerly BUPA (Thailand) and have been for quite a few years.  I would hate to be forced to change companies just because my company is not on some random list.  I'm too old for all this!!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

24 minutes ago, losername said:

It's good to hear that they are capable of adding to the list.  I am with Aetna (Thailand), formerly BUPA (Thailand) and have been for quite a few years.  I would hate to be forced to change companies just because my company is not on some random list.  I'm too old for all this!!

 

Here's the current group. I think the original three for the O-X visa program were Thaivivat, Viriyah and Navakij, which I'd never heard mentioned in any farang insurance circles before seeing them become part of the O-X insurance pool.

 

I think the more recent newcomers are Pacific Cross, AXA and Bangkok.

 

 

https://longstay.tgia.org/

[Geordie59]

 So much fuss about something that is for once very sensible.

For all those complainers out there just ask yourselves what hoops your country makes a Thai who wants to live in your home country jump through. 

[Naam]

On 5/15/2019 at 2:10 PM, Peterw42 said:

On 5/15/2019 at 1:49 PM, carbon007 said:

I have been here 12 years and this is the first time I realise (have been explained) that a "Retirement" visa (which I have) is not the same as an extension of a "Non-immigrant O-A" visa.

Let us see how long time this distinction will be upheld

 

If you have been here for 12 years you have an extension of stay based on retirement, unless you go home each year and get a new OA visa. 

 

you get an extension of your stay not an extension of a visa.

a permit which is in every country of this planet called a visa gets rechristened as "extension of stay" by Thai immigration has to be accepted with a smile and a "this is Thailand"

[ivor bigun]

 So much fuss about something that is for once very sensible.
For all those complainers out there just ask yourselves what hoops your country makes a Thai who wants to live in your home country jump through. 

Lots ,but then Britain has free housing ,free health care ,social security if your not working yes you can work if you want to ,etc etc ,does Thailand have this for us? No we have to keep money in the bank or bring in 65k a month to the country,so please dont post silly posts.

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[losername]

1 minute ago, ivor bigun said:

Lots ,but then Britain has free housing ,free health care ,social security if your not working yes you can work if you want to ,etc etc ,does Thailand have this for us? No we have to keep money in the bank or bring in 65k a month to the country,so please dont post silly posts.
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Yes to all of that but you forgot "can buy a Premier League Soccer club".  

[brewsterbudgen]

Lots ,but then Britain has free housing ,free health care ,social security if your not working yes you can work if you want to ,etc etc ,does Thailand have this for us? No we have to keep money in the bank or bring in 65k a month to the country,so please dont post silly posts.

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

The income or savings requirements are far higher for settling in the UK than for Extensions of Stay in Thailand. Plus UK requires a NHS payment (basically insurance), TB certificate and Thais have to pass a basic English test.

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[wcoast]

What the article fails to state is; what type of Visa is a typical retirement extension granted on? Non-Imm O?

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[ivor bigun]

The income or savings requirements are far higher for settling in the UK than for Extensions of Stay in Thailand. Plus UK requires a NHS payment (basically insurance), TB certificate and Thais have to pass a basic English test.

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My sister in law lives there,my wife lived there,my son went to school there ,no problems , dont exagerate.

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[losername]

22 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

The income or savings requirements are far higher for settling in the UK than for Extensions of Stay in Thailand. Plus UK requires a NHS payment (basically insurance), TB certificate and Thais have to pass a basic English test.
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Interesting points being made here and I do not know the detailed requirements but I suspect we are not comparing like with like.  English test?  Isn't that related to citizenship?  Anyway, income and savings are obviously higher, it's more expensive.

[fforest1]

2 hours ago, Geordie59 said:

 So much fuss about something that is for once very sensible.

For all those complainers out there just ask yourselves what hoops your country makes a Thai who wants to live in your home country jump through. 

Dont make me laugh......Open your eyes...

 

The one and only thing Thailand ever gave expats was a easy visa.....And they want to take even that away.....Thailand deserves absolutely nothing in the way of increasing  visa requirements...
The western visa requirements may be high but once your there the the state benefits can be huge if you play your cards right...

 

[billd766]

4 hours ago, Don Mega said:

I gather your cheap fix was at a government hospital.

 

Interesting about accidents, if the vehicle insurance covers it why do so many visitors start a gofundme to pay the bills?

Perhaps because the vehicle is not theirs, possibly a hired motorbike and the insurance doesn't cover them personally and if they are tourists their holiday insurance won't pay up either.

[brewsterbudgen]

My sister in law lives there,my wife lived there,my son went to school there ,no problems , dont exagerate.

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I'm not saying they are "problems". They're just requirements for a Settlement visa. Easy to meet if you have enough money and good enough English.

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