Mandatory health insurance for non-immigrant O-A retirement visa holders likely to take effect in July

[snoop1130]

Mandatory health insurance for retirement visa holders likely to take effect in July

By Chularat Saengpassa 
The Nation

 

File photo

 

FOREIGNERS aged 50 and above living in Thailand on a long-stay visa will likely have to buy health insurance from July onwards, as authorities are preparing guidelines to enforce the new rules.

 

Approved by the Cabinet last month, the new regulation will require expats on the long-stay non-immigrant O-A visa to have health insurance that offers Bt40,000 coverage for outpatient treatment and Bt400,000 for inpatient. 

 

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

 

The requirement was introduced because foreign expats have piled up unpaid medical bills of more than Bt300 million since 2016. 

 

“We will ask the Immigration Bureau, the Foreign Ministry and the Insurance Department for additional details and implementation guidelines next week,” Saowapa Jongkittipong, who leads the Health Service Support Department’s International Health Division, said yesterday. 

 

She said that once the rule is implemented, applicants for the non-immigrant O-A visa, which is valid for one year from the date of issue, would be required to buy health insurance. 

 

“Current holders of this visa will have to produce proof of their health insurance for visa renewal,” she said. 

 

According to Saowapa, this requirement is necessary because medical treatments provided to many elderly long-time foreign residents have weighed heavily on the state coffers. 

 

Last year, foreigners incurred Bt305 million in unpaid medical bills. Foreigners in 2017 left Bt346 million in unpaid medical bills. If categorised by the number of medical visits, statistics show about one-fifth of foreign patients did not pay their bills. 

 

Huge unpaid bills

 

For instance, foreigners made 3.42 million medical visits last year, and did not pay for 680,000 of them, while in 2017, foreigners made 3.3 million medical visits and did not pay for 565,000 of them. 

 

Saowapa said further discussions among relevant agencies would help establish which diseases would be covered under the mandatory health insurance. 

 

The ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs have been instructed to inform all foreigners of these new requirements.

 

Currently, citizens of only 14 countries require health insurance when seeking Thai visas for five years and above. 

 

Meanwhile, the Public Health Ministry has suggested that visa applicants purchase health insurance from one of the companies listed on www.longstay.tgia.org. The ministry has also told relevant agencies to plan how health insurance policies bought overseas will be verified. 

 

The problem of bad debts incurred by foreigners has existed for many years. 

 

Earlier this year, Health Service Support Department director-general Dr Nattawuth Prasertsiripong said his department had decided to establish claim centres in Chon Buri, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Phang Nga and Surat Thani provinces to help state hospitals collect what is owed to them by foreign patients. The very fact that such centres are required reflects the severity of the problem. 

 

Taking note of this, the Public Health Ministry proposed to the Cabinet early last month that applicants of non-immigrant O-A visa be required to purchase health insurance. 

 

RELATED: Range of Health Plans‎ for Expats in Thailand

 

Box:

 

KEY NUMBERS

 

Bad medical debts from expats have been cited in the move to make health insurance mandatory for foreigners aged 50 and above who are living in Thailand on a one-year long-stay visa. 

 

2016

 

Non-immigrant (O-A) visa holders: 32 million 

Number of medical visits by them: 2.6 million

Number of unpaid medical bills: 667,000

Number of long-stay expats seeking medical services: 71,288

Outstanding debt: Bt380 million

 

2017

 

Non-immigrant (O-A) visa holders: 35 million 

Number medical visits by them: 3.3 million

Number of unpaid medical bills: 565,000

Number of long-stay expats seeking medical services: 68,696

Outstanding debt: Bt346 million

 

2018

 

Non-immigrant (O-A) visa holders: 38 million 

Number of medical visits by them: 3.42 million

Number of unpaid medical bills: 680,000

Number of long-stay expats seeking medical services: 80,950

Outstanding debt: Bt305 million

 

Proposed mandatory health insurance 

 

Bt40,000 coverage for outpatient treatment

Bt400,000 coverage for inpatient treatments

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30369468

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-05-15

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[pmh2009]

yeah dem westerners on Youtube asking and begging for money for their medical bills!!! thanks a lot dudes!!!!!

[faraday]

[Andrew Dwyer]

If all these millions of OA visa holders are skipping their hospital bills then why don’t they chase em up !!

After all , what with the TM 30 and 90 days reporting they are easily tracked down [emoji848]

[Pattaya46]

I struggle to understand all the figures given in this article ??

Mainly:

15 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Non-immigrant (O-A) visa holders: 38 million

Surely that is fully incorrect. I would bet tens or hundreds thousands at max, no?

[Denim]

I assume these statistics are from government hospitals.

 

With private ones unless you show the ability to pay you are not likely to pass go.

 

Certainly, when I was admitted for 4 days the waiting room was chocker with sickly looking falangs and half a dozen receptionists trying to phone overseas insurance companies to confirm the policies  were up to date and correct. Very undignified if you are on deaths door.

[Isaanbiker]

The requirement was introduced because foreign expats have piled up unpaid medical bills of more than Bt300 million since 2016. 

 

   How many of them were direct neighbors, or generally from SEA?

 

    Watching locals subtracting 10 baht from 100 baht by using a calculator makes me think. How accurate is this statistic then? 

 

    

[Denim]

1 minute ago, Pattaya46 said:

I struggle to understand all the figures given in this article ??

Mainly:

Surely that is fully incorrect. I would bet tens or hundreds thousands at max, no?

Lies , Damn lies and statistics. 

[pookiki]

2 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

I struggle to understand all the figures given in this article ??

Mainly:

Surely that is fully incorrect. I would bet tens or hundreds thousands at max, no?

Yes, that's the first think I noticed.  Maybe 380,000 at the most.  Thirty-eight million would be over half of Thailand's current population!

[pookiki]

I think someone has made a terrible error in presenting these statistics about the total number of O-A visa holders in Thailand as well as the following stats about medical visits and those that went unpaid.

[Mitkof Island]

10 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

If all these millions of OA visa holders are skipping their hospital bills then why don’t they chase em up !!

After all , what with the TM 30 and 90 days reporting they are easily tracked down

Agree the hospitals can send the bill to Thai Immigration and grab the foreigners to pay up or leave. Don,t punish everyone because of these losers.

[holy cow cm]

Here we go again. Hogwash in statistics. OA is going to be everyone over 50 on any 1 year visa or extension. Call it O or Z but for the over 50 long term stayers it is an OMG!

 

[edwinchester]

From the op.

 

"Last year, foreigners incurred Bt305 million in unpaid medical bills.

 

Huge unpaid bills

 

For instance, foreigners made 3.42 million medical visits last year, and did not pay for 680,000 of them....."

 

So 680,000 thousand foreigners incurred hospital debts of 305,000,000 bht last year.

That is the sum of less than 450 bht each!!!!!!!

<deleted> just tax each visitor 500 bht and your still in profit.

[Isaanbiker]

22 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

I struggle to understand all the figures given in this article ??

Mainly:

Surely that is fully incorrect. I would bet tens or hundreds thousands at max, no?

is it possible that they've got a huge problem with their numbers?

 

2018

Non-immigrant (O-A) visa holders: 38 million 

Number of medical visits by them: 3.42 million

Number of unpaid medical bills: 680,000

Number of long-stay expats seeking medical services: 80,950

Outstanding debt: Bt305 million

  

 

Foreign residents in Thailand, according to the 2010 Census. It was found that there were 2,581,141 of foreign origins, composing around 3.87 percent of Thailand's population. Migrants from Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar, the most prevalent, accounted for 1.8 million foreigners.

 

 As of March 2018, Thai government data showed that over 770,900 Cambodian migrants, meaning five percent of the total population of Cambodia, currently live in Thailand. Some NGOs estimate that the actual number may be up to one million.[26]

 

Is it possible that westerners in the future will have to pay all the bills that can't/ couldn't be paid by all non-Thai Asians? 

 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Thailand

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by Isaanbiker

[gunderhill]

Can we have the statistics for corruption losses  in Thailand for the last 3  years also? or maybe they don't have a calculator  big  enough? I bet that figure would be most interesting!!

I reckon this junta have ""0 baht left in the coffers  but maybe the accs. dept told them otherwise, seems they're trying to screw  money any which way they can.

[rabas]

55 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

2016

Non-immigrant (O-A) visa holders: 32 million 

Number of medical visits by them: 2.6 million 

Total nonsense.

 

32.59 million is the total number of foreign arrivals in 2016, many who may have entered multiple times. total retirees is in the 100000s and may soon drop precipitously.

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by rabas

[gunderhill]

42 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

The very fact that such centres are required reflects the severity of the problem. 

Wonder  how  much that cost them to do? 20  staff each when one bloke with a phone could do the job in the rest of the world.

[Isaanbiker]

1 minute ago, gunderhill said:

Can we have the statistics for corruption losses  in Thailand for the last 3  years also? or maybe they don't have a calculator  big  enough? I bet that figure would be most interesting!!

I reckon this junta have ""0 baht left in the coffers  but maybe the accs. dept told them otherwise, seems they're trying to screw  money any which way they can.

I'm certain that we'll soon have to pay a "breathing thin air" tax.

[holy cow cm]

Hate to have Dr. Nattawuth as your physician. Think of the wrong diagnoses wrong medicines and adding of the bills he would torture you with. 

[rabas]

Two billion baht

 

= amount of money for 200,000 retirees who would pay 10000B to agents because the visa system is a mess, in one year.

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by rabas

[jollyhangmon]

 

What? 32, 35, 38 million NON O/O-A visa holders ... more likely total tourist numbers, no?

What are they smoking & where do I place my order ...?

[holy cow cm]

2 minutes ago, jollyhangmon said:

 

What? 32, 35, 38 million NON O/O-A visa holders ... more likely total tourist numbers, no?

What are they smoking & where do I place my order ...?

Says O-A. No mention of O. 

[apex2000]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

2018

 

Non-immigrant (O-A) visa holders: 38 million 

How can there possibly be 38,000,000 non-immigrant (O-A) visa holders? The Thai population is around 70+ million, and so there are half as many foreigners here as well? That's around one in three humans in Thailand is a foreigner? Pull the other one, it's got bells on.

[mercman24]

i say made up bullshit figures, we know how this country cant ever get their sums right, how would they let all these people walk out of a hospital without paying, dont believe one word of it, i have reported before, i had to break into my friends room, (on holiday, and insured) to get his cards and cash so he could pay for a 2 day stay at Bangkok Hospital Pattaya, before they would let him leave, NOTE he HAD insurance,

[gunderhill]

6 minutes ago, apex2000 said:

How can there possibly be 38,000,000 non-immigrant (O-A) visa holders? The Thai population is around 70+ million, and so there are half as many foreigners here as well? That's around one in three humans in Thailand is a foreigner? Pull the other one, it's got bells on.

"whistles"  too I'd  imagine,  bloody pesky foreigners, wait until the economy really tanks and then see what crap they spew  out especially as  Junta boy  will be in power for the next 20 years, sure as hell "won't be their  fault"

[gunderhill]

how about THAI  VISA/ THE NATION   points out their calculations to them???? and let's  us  all  know ??

[mngmn]

"It's news Jim but not as we know it"

[gunderhill]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

one-fifth of foreign patients did not pay their bills. 

 

but four  fifths  did!!

[Mitkof Island]

32 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

Says O-A. No mention of O. 

Correct has NOTHING to do with Type O Marriage visas. Watch as thousands make a run to Pattaya for a sham marriage. BIG HINT !!!! Don,t even think about it Immigration is looking for any foreigners getting any bright ideas.

[elliss]

1 hour ago, pmh2009 said:

yeah dem westerners on Youtube asking and begging for money for their medical bills!!! thanks a lot dudes!!!!!

Totally failed in your home Country , aka as  farang in LOS ..

How ever ,  i have substantial funds until , the next hoop .

 Dental requirements ..

 

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by elliss