Compulsory Medical Insurance for Retirement Visa

[DaRoadrunner]

Today I happened to meet a girl who works for the Ministry of Health legal division. She said that they are working on a law requiring foreigners on retirement visas to have mandatory health insurance.

 

She said:- “You will not get a visa without health insurance. This will be available from a Govt website.”

 

I asked how much it would cost? From the blank expression, she had not thought of this yet.

 

I mentioned that some foreigners were concerned that this may not be available to those beyond a certain age, or those with pre-existing medical conditions. She had no response and stared at me blankly as obviously they had not thought of this either. (Aren’t Thais great in the planning and logic department).

 

Off she went, unconcerned. The reaction was kind of like ‘don’t confuse me with the facts’.

 

So, it is coming. The only comfort is the fact that insurance will be provided via a Govt website.

 

With this on top of TM30 and 90 day reports, there comes a point where I ask myself, why don’t I go somewhere else?

 

(Don’t ask me for further info’… the above is all I got!)

Edited August 15, 2019 by DaRoadrunner
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[Issanman]

Have you seen this? >>>  Medical Insurance for retirement in Thailand.

It appears to be for OA visa holders, but it may be the same thing.

Edited August 15, 2019 by Issanman

[UKresonant]

The Devil will be in the detail! 

Any hints on timescale on when this concept shall be published? (Anything to do with that other post, regarding vague rumors from the Swiss Embassy of Visa changes in September mentioned...)

[ubonjoe]

That is just the ministry of health wanting it. It has to be approved by other ministries before it goes info effect.

There has been nothing new mentioned since April/May about it.

 I personally think it is not going to happen.

[Briggsy]

The Ministry of Public Health is certainly one of the more influential ministries and has a track record of influencing legislation. Legislation on smoking (packaging, bans on smoking in many public areas, tax increases), for example, was pushed through despite opposition from other government entities.

[DannyCarlton]

If it does come in, and like Ubon Joe, I doubt it, I'm sure the visa agents will find a way round it for a few sovs.

[DrJack54]

13 minutes ago, DannyCarlton said:

If it does come in, and like Ubon Joe, I doubt it, I'm sure the visa agents will find a way round it for a few sovs.

+1 for it not coming in even for

O-A. However if it did don't think agents could help with O-A given they are obtained in own country. Guess unless it was an add on done in los. Anyway don't think it will happen

Edited August 15, 2019 by DrJack54

[Puchaiyank]

It's all good...the Thais are only looking out for our best interests...????

[bigginhill]

A retirement extension can be obtained from how many different types of visa? 

I thought all the discussion was we don.t have a visa but we have a retirement extension.

[mtls2005]

I thought that the 100 baht increase/adder to the 700 baht PSC (Sayaonara tax), which will  yield 3.8 billion baht will more than cover the ~ 200 million baht in unrecovered medical expenses incurred by foreigners, with considerable leftover for slushiness?

 

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2019 by mtls2005

[DrJack54]

10 minutes ago, bigginhill said:

A retirement extension can be obtained from how many different types of visa? 

I thought all the discussion was we don.t have a visa but we have a retirement extension.

In Thai imm website they refer to a non O-A with (retirement visa).

Looks like this non immigrant non O-A ( retirement visa). The OP stated "retirement visa"

Very confusing because if you ask fella in bar how they are living in los...you might often hear "retirement visa". They actually most likely have and extension based on retirement. Others have extension based on marriage or parent of Thai etc.

Yes pedantic but can be confusing. Think they refer to O-X as " long stay".

In any event the whole insurance thing possibility has been about O-A

Edited August 15, 2019 by DrJack54

[DaRoadrunner]

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

In Thai imm website they refer to a non O-A with (retirement visa).

Looks like this non immigrant non O-A ( retirement visa). The OP stated "retirement visa"

Very confusing because if you ask fella in bar how they are living in los...you might often hear "retirement visa". They actually most likely have and extension based on retirement. Others have extension based on marriage or parent of Thai etc.

Yes pedantic but can be confusing. Think they refer to O-X as " long stay".

In any event the whole insurance thing possibility has been about O-A

The girl's exact words were "retirement visa." However, in this country anything is possible. I will be surprised if it does not happen as the Ministry of Health is fed up with Farang doing a runner on hospital bills.

[DrJack54]

9 minutes ago, DaRoadrunner said:

The girl's exact words were "retirement visa." However, in this country anything is possible. I will be surprised if it does not happen as the Ministry of Health is fed up with Farang doing a runner on hospital bills.

IMHO that is seriously incorrect. When my Thai gf had cancer I could not even get her out of hospital until I paid. I was happy to do so. Same when I personally had pulmonary embolism. Lot of stuff gets thrown out there on tvf. I think its all about more money to be squeezed out of farang. Anyway time will tell.

BTW as I stated retirement visa is NOT extensions based on retirement. One is a visa the other is not.

[fishtank]

More rumour and scaremongering.

[fishtank]

48 minutes ago, DaRoadrunner said:

 I will be surprised if it does not happen as the Ministry of Health is fed up with Farang doing a runner on hospital bills.

Can you give any instances of this please?

[BritManToo]

55 minutes ago, DaRoadrunner said:

The girl's exact words were "retirement visa." However, in this country anything is possible. I will be surprised if it does not happen as the Ministry of Health is fed up with Farang doing a runner on hospital bills.

She was speaking in English or in Thai?

She sounds a bit stupid, so likely her English isn't so good.

More likely the conversation only happened in your imagination (where everyone speaks the same language).

Edited August 15, 2019 by BritManToo

[timendres]

56 minutes ago, DaRoadrunner said:

The girl's exact words were "retirement visa." However, in this country anything is possible. I will be surprised if it does not happen as the Ministry of Health is fed up with Farang doing a runner on hospital bills.

By definition, it is the short term tourists who are most likely to "do a runner" on a hospital bill, while the long term extension holders are here for the, well, long term. And I seriously doubt this girl would know the difference between visa and extension.

 

Plain and simple, it is a money grab. I would like to see the numbers demonstrating that those on long term extensions are costing the health care system anything substantial. I bet it is a fraction of a fraction of a percent at best.

[ThomasThBKK]

2 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

I thought that the 100 baht increase/adder to the 700 baht PSC (Sayaonara tax), which will  yield 3.8 billion baht will more than cover the ~ 200 million baht in unrecovered medical expenses incurred by foreigners, with considerable leftover for slushiness?

 

 

 

 

seems like you didn't account for the governments new Mercedes Benz' in your calculation.

[MRToMRT]

":The only comfort is the fact that insurance will be provided via a Govt website."

 

Look into what they are providing and previous topics on this, it's not a comfort at all IMHO. Seriously over priced/under qualified compared to standard International offerings

[gk10002000]

4 hours ago, DaRoadrunner said:

She said:- “You will not get a visa without health insurance. This will be available from a Govt website.”

 

I asked how much it would cost? From the blank expression, she had not thought of this yet.

 

I mentioned that some foreigners were concerned that this may not be available to those beyond a certain age, or those with pre-existing medical conditions. She had no response and stared at me blankly as obviously they had not thought of this either. (Aren’t Thais great in the planning and logic department).

All good and valid questions.  Not to mention, what if somebody already has some Thai medical insurance they did not buy from the govt website.  Or of course some really good international insurance that is completely valid in Thailand. 

[gk10002000]

51 minutes ago, timendres said:

By definition, it is the short term tourists who are most likely to "do a runner" on a hospital bill, while the long term extension holders are here for the, well, long term. And I seriously doubt this girl would know the difference between visa and extension.

 

Plain and simple, it is a money grab. I would like to see the numbers demonstrating that those on long term extensions are costing the health care system anything substantial. I bet it is a fraction of a fraction of a percent at best.

agree on the money grab.  basically it will be a mandatory "tax" and the product you are forced to buy will be crap.  

[tgeezer]

I assume that medical emergencies were covered by the Bt400,000 kept untouched. Immigration made that rule but not the immigration that condones the use of agents I presume! The only way to cover that embarrassment would be individual medical insurance so it would not be surprising if it were introduced. 

[Max69xl]

5 hours ago, bigginhill said:

A retirement extension can be obtained from how many different types of visa? 

I thought all the discussion was we don.t have a visa but we have a retirement extension.

It concerns only Long Stay O-A Visa.

This is nothing new. 

[Max69xl]

4 hours ago, DaRoadrunner said:

The girl's exact words were "retirement visa." However, in this country anything is possible. I will be surprised if it does not happen as the Ministry of Health is fed up with Farang doing a runner on hospital bills.

I think the Long Stay O-X Visa already requires a health insurance.

A Non-imm O Retirement Visa is officially just a 90 days visa which we can extend up to one year at the time. 

If you ask a Thai person what a retirement visa is,they don't have a clue.

[Max69xl]

3 hours ago, fishtank said:

Can you give any instances of this please?

DaRoadrunner is correct about the part that the Health Department in Thailand is fed up with farangs without health or accident insurances. But why go after people with Long Stay O-A visas? Or does it just concern new visas obtained from home? 

[DaRoadrunner]

4 hours ago, BritManToo said:

She was speaking in English or in Thai?

She sounds a bit stupid, so likely her English isn't so good.

More likely the conversation only happened in your imagination (where everyone speaks the same language).

BritManToo... I usually find your comments intelligent, incisive and entertaining, but I have to say this time you really stuck your head up your own ass. Da Roadrunner may be bird brained but I am aware of whether or not a conversation took place.

 

The girl was not the sharpest tool in the shed, but then I find most Thais are air heads. However, she spoke both English and Thai (as do I) and she does have the inside track as she works for the legal division of the Ministry of Health. That said, I doubt she is aware of the different visas.

 

I wonder, will we Farangs give in and leave or will the Govt / Immigration bury themselves under their own paper first?

 

Thailand is an example of what happens when children run a country. It follows that it is not surprising that some on this forum are exasperated to the point of making abrasive derogatory comments.

 

As for doing a runner from a hospital due to being unhappy with their malpractice....... I was a lot younger and faster then!

 

Edited August 15, 2019 by DaRoadrunner

[lamyai3]

3 hours ago, DaRoadrunner said:

As for doing a runner from a hospital due to being unhappy with their malpractice....... I was a lot younger and faster then!

Never try and do a runner after a hip replacement operation.

 

I'm sure she said retirement visa, this is common parlance among Thais and especially those with a little knowledge of visas, but she's been spoon-fed a tall tale regarding it being long stay expats doing a runner from hospitals. Assuming this was even possible it'd make no sense - you have to register with your passport for the hospital id, and afterwards you'd still be here. It'd be like routinely doing a runner from restaurants - you might get away with it briefly but you'll be caught in no time. The major culprits of unpaid hospital bills are Thais themselves, foreigners from bordering countries (a big problem according to hospital staff), and much further down the list might be short stay tourists with little intention of returning. If retirees are doing a runner on unpaid bills the hospitals have every right to go after them legally and no doubt do, hence I find it difficult to believe there's any truth in what they're claiming. Much more likely is that they realise that in comparison with other visa options closing down, the Non O-A had become a cakewalk by default, and they wanted to give it some more hoops for people to jump through. 

 

[Badrabbit]

"Only available via Government website" huge tea money exercise!!

Sent from my SM-G610F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[mtls2005]

8 hours ago, ThomasThBKK said:

seems like you didn't account for the governments new Mercedes Benz' in your calculation.

 

"Slushiness", to the tune of 3.6 Billion baht per year going to the MoH certainly does account for new Mercs, wristwatches and Chanel bags.

 

 

[a977]

12 hours ago, Briggsy said:

The Ministry of Public Health is certainly one of the more influential ministries and has a track record of influencing legislation. Legislation on smoking (packaging, bans on smoking in many public areas, tax increases), for example, was pushed through despite opposition from other government entities.

They may be influential in getting laws passed but that is where the buck stops. You can implement all the laws you want, Ah but enforcing them that is another thing