Retirement Medical insurance mandatory best company over 70

[Capealava]

As of July mandatory health insurance is a requirement for obtaining a retirement visa in Thailand. I am over 70 and many companies do not insure over 70. I am looking for links to the cheapest insurance that covers the minimum 

Bt40,000 coverage for outpatient treatment

Bt400,000 coverage for inpatient treatments.

Thanks for any help with this

 

[jacko45k]

Please supply your source for this information. 

Best knowledge is the requirement is only for Non-Imm OA visas. 

Edited May 16, 2019 by jacko45k

[scubascuba3]

too many people panicking who don't understand the difference between an OA and O. No need for these type of threads

[sussex]

"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. "

In today's Nation:

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

[farmerjo]

So can anyone answer the actual question about the 400/40 for over 70 regardless of visa type please. 

OP a couple of topics down you can download a spreadsheet of prices.

Edited May 16, 2019 by farmerjo

[stephenterry]

3 minutes ago, farmerjo said:

So can anyone answer the actual question about the 400/40 for over 70 regardless of visa type please. 

You could try AIA. They cover me for accidents - not general health cover  - up to and including age 74.  On the assumption you're in good health, the most likely need for hospital treatment would be an unfortunate accident.

 

I have heard that for those unable to find health cover owing to age or existing health issues, that an extra lump sum deposit, e.g. 400k, could be an alternative resolution, and maybe accepted by Imm should they enforce health cover for every ex-pat residing in Thailand. 

 

I guess we would have to wait and see.

 

[Capealava]

Did more research. The Thai government gave this link for insurance companies who will provide the necessary insurance. However for this over 70, it ranges from 75,000 to 115,000 a year https://longstay.tgia.org

[Rdrokit]

Not cheap.

 

https://www.thaivivat.co.th/longstayvisaplan/

[wgdanson]

7 minutes ago, Rdrokit said:

Not cheap.

 

https://www.thaivivat.co.th/longstayvisaplan/

But will take a 71 - 75 year old as a new customer.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, Capealava said:

Did more research. The Thai government gave this link for insurance companies who will provide the necessary insurance. However for this over 70, it ranges from 75,000 to 115,000 a year https://longstay.tgia.org

 

There's also this recent ThaiVisa thread on available medical insurance policy issuers for older expats here....

 

 

There's basically going to be two different kinds of policies here...

 

1. are the very limited coverage, high priced policies listed on the government sponsored LongStay website where Thai insurers have targeted those policies specifically at expats.

 

2. are the general medical insurance policies and companies discussed in the thread I linked to above, which are available to older expats in Thailand, but actually have useful/higher and reasonable coverage amounts that would actually pay for hospital bills in Thailand if you got seriously sick here. 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

20 minutes ago, Rdrokit said:

Not cheap.

 

https://www.thaivivat.co.th/longstayvisaplan/

 

Just a comparative note: the posted premium for Thaivivat's 400K/40K of coverage is considerably higher than the 5M baht per disability coverage, including outpatient, that I currently have with Pacific Cross (with a 40K annual deductible and no claims discount applied).

 

[4evermaat]

There is a blog posted over a year go that addressed this. https://www.thethailandlife.com/international-health-insurance 

 

I think there will be another update given the recent news about non O-A requirement (not to be confused with non - O).

 

A big problem that the article tries to address is the trust factor in picking an insurance company that will actually honor their coverage.   It's all on paper until you actually have an issue (need to make a claim).  It will be open season on older expats in a panic to obtain coverage over the next several months

Edited May 16, 2019 by 4evermaat

[marcusarelus]

3 hours ago, stephenterry said:

You could try AIA. They cover me for accidents - not general health cover  - up to and including age 74.  On the assumption you're in good health, the most likely need for hospital treatment would be an unfortunate accident.

 

I have heard that for those unable to find health cover owing to age or existing health issues, that an extra lump sum deposit, e.g. 400k, could be an alternative resolution, and maybe accepted by Imm should they enforce health cover for every ex-pat residing in Thailand. 

 

I guess we would have to wait and see.

 

I'm insured by A1A and called them and they didn't have a clue what I was talking about.  No one has told them about mandatory health insurance for long stay (retirement extensions) yet.

[marcusarelus]

I think I am beginning to understand it.  Pacific cross and Bangkok insurance will take over 70's.  If you have a claim the next year your insurance cost skyrockets and they take all of your money and you leave Thailand. 

 

So maybe you get lucky and die before you have a major claim.

 

Am I seeing that correctly?  It's going to cost me 100,000 to insure with Pacific cross or Bangkok? 

 

I'll start the search for more accurate information after I walk the dog. 

[Rdrokit]

23 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

I think I am beginning to understand it.  Pacific cross and Bangkok insurance will take over 70's.  If you have a claim the next year your insurance cost skyrockets and they take all of your money and you leave Thailand. 

 

So maybe you get lucky and die before you have a major claim.

 

Am I seeing that correctly?  It's going to cost me 100,000 to insure with Pacific cross or Bangkok? 

 

I'll start the search for more accurate information after I walk the dog. 

Well that's about $270US a month. Hard to find comparably private healthcare insurance coverage for that price in the USA. Even with Medicare you will need part B and probably part D which will run about $200US a month. On top of that you would be living in a country where most everything will be more expensive than Thailand.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, marcusarelus said:

I think I am beginning to understand it.  Pacific cross and Bangkok insurance will take over 70's.  If you have a claim the next year your insurance cost skyrockets and they take all of your money and you leave Thailand. 

 

That's not the case for Pacific Cross, at least for their regular policies.... And I would assume they'll generally follow their same internal procedures with their Long Stay special policies.

 

I've had smaller claims with Pacific Cross and they've never increased my premiums. And they typically don't do inflationary increases every year, like most of the Thai insurers do...  But, what Pac Cross will do is if you have a BIG claim relative to the total amounts you've paid in in premiums during the life of the policy, they may do a temporary surcharge on the policy.

 

They say that's a maximum of an extra 25% for up to 3 years.... and if there isn't a continuation of ongoing high claims at that point, the surcharge would drop off....

 

By comparison, with the way other Thai insurers handle their annual inflationary premium adjustments, you easily could get a permanent and ongoing premium hike of 25% over every two to three year period, and then have those increases compounding on themselves for every future year.

 

[JTXR]

.

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by JTXR

[HKindepend]

Whats make me stay in Thailand.

 

[Rdrokit]

3 minutes ago, HKindepend said:

Whats make me stay in Thailand.

 

For me it's I can live like a king here on my retirement and in my old country I can live like a peon. Easy choice.

[glegolo]

8 minutes ago, Rdrokit said:

For me it's I can live like a king here on my retirement and in my old country I can live like a peon. Easy choice.

i second that, and it probably goes for the most of us living here...   

 

GLEGOLO

[rabas]

On 5/16/2019 at 6:35 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

That's not the case for Pacific Cross, at least for their regular policies.... And I would assume they'll generally follow their same internal procedures with their Long Stay special policies.

 

I've had smaller claims with Pacific Cross and they've never increased my premiums. And they typically don't do inflationary increases every year, like most of the Thai insurers do...  But, what Pac Cross will do is if you have a BIG claim relative to the total amounts you've paid in in premiums during the life of the policy, they may do a temporary surcharge on the policy.

 

They say that's a maximum of an extra 25% for up to 3 years.... and if there isn't a continuation of ongoing high claims at that point, the surcharge would drop off....

 

By comparison, with the way other Thai insurers handle their annual inflationary premium adjustments, you easily could get a permanent and ongoing premium hike of 25% over every two to three year period, and then have those increases compounding on themselves for every future year.

 

May I ask what is your maximum coverage per incident?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

9 hours ago, rabas said:

May I ask what is your maximum coverage per incident?

 

The Pacific Cross Maxima plan, which is the one I have, has a total limit of 5 million baht per episode, a cap of 8,000 baht per night for hospital inpatient room and service expenses, and includes outpatient coverage (though the later can be dropped to obtain a premium discount).

 

PC used to have a lifetime limit on the policy of 20 million baht, but they abolished that some years back.

 

Their policy info lists their standard premiums by age group. But then, you have various options to reduce those prices by things like taking varying levels of deductible, which can yield discounts of 25% to 50%, and by having a no claims discount of up to 25%.

 

Right now, I have a 25% discount off their standard rates for accepting a 40K baht per year deductible, and another 20% discount for having gone the past 3 years without any claims. So obviously, with those discounts, I'm paying almost half off their posted premium rates.

 

I should note, though, with the new insurance rule coming for O-A visa and perhaps other forms of permission to stay, we don't know how that requirement is going to deal with the notion of medical insurance policy deductibles, in other words, whether the coming rule will even accept deductible policies.

 

Most regular medical policies have some deductibles as options to help the policy holders lower their premium expense. But the special Long Stay medical policies the Thai govt is promoting through various insurers don't seem to show deductibles, perhaps because their minimum coverage is only 400,000 baht (and 40K for outpatient). And yet some of their premiums are almost the same cost as what I pay for my Maxima policy.

 

If I had to abandon the current 40K baht annual deductible I have on my current policy in order to comply with any future Thai government Immigration regulation... I'm just saying IF at this point..., it would add a 25% price hike to the premium I'm currently paying.

 

2 Maxima Plan.pdf

Edited May 18, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[JTXR]

As far as I can tell from their site, Pacific Cross will insure folks over 65 only with their long-stay policy (40K op/400K ip).

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

3 hours ago, JTXR said:

As far as I can tell from their site, Pacific Cross will insure folks over 65 only with their long-stay policy (40K op/400K ip).

 

No, that's not correct. Pacific Cross also will issue regular (not the longstay variety) new health insurance policies all the way up to age 75, I believe... And then renew into the 90s.... But a medical exam is required for any new policies when you're 65 and older.

 

 

Dunno...just speculating here... But one thing that might give you the idea they only write regular policies up to age 65 is their "standard" premium rate charts included in their brochures and elsewhere only go up to age 65...

 

However, they do have full rate charts that show their premiums for each type of policy up into the age 90s range. But you have to ask for them.  They don't seem to post those broader age range charts on their website or in their regular documents.

 

Edited May 20, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Rdrokit]

This may help some that do not have insurance. Just had a friend renew his retirement visa and told him. 

 

" Insurance Requirement: Those holding a Non Immigrant O type visa are exempt from insurance requirement."

[rabas]

46 minutes ago, Rdrokit said:

This may help some that do not have insurance. Just had a friend renew his retirement visa and told him. 

 

" Insurance Requirement: Those holding a Non Immigrant O type visa are exempt from insurance requirement."

Excellent feedback. Do you know which immigration office told them that?

Edited May 23, 2019 by rabas

[Rdrokit]

12 minutes ago, rabas said:

Excellent feedback. Do you know which immigration office told them that?

Korat.

[userabcd]

1 hour ago, Rdrokit said:

This may help some that do not have insurance. Just had a friend renew his retirement visa and told him. 

 

" Insurance Requirement: Those holding a Non Immigrant O type visa are exempt from insurance requirement."

But if the people doing O and O-A renewals continue questioning I/O's about this, maybe just one day they might think it a good idea to require it. 

[Seeall]

On 5/17/2019 at 9:34 AM, glegolo said:

i second that, and it probably goes for the most of us living here...   

 

GLEGOLO

AU old age pension gets cancelled if away from AU too long...

[glegolo]

2 hours ago, Seeall said:

AU old age pension gets cancelled if away from AU too long...

Oh,,, is that REALLY true, I must say that I doubt it VERY much..... You pay into your pension during your whole working-life, and then somebody just steals your pension-money. There must be something else that you forget to tell us??

 

glegolo