Details of mandatory health insurance for Non-Imm O-A visas to be announced next week

[uncleeagle]

And what if the vast majority of unpaid bills are incurred buy non O foreigners, such as ordinary tourists, or migrant workers, or other visitors?

 

What if the vast majority of non O holders are high spending and law abiding and respectful and respectable people who are now going to say enough is enough and just not come back?

 

Is there any evidence at all to support these xenophobic claims, or is this just a sneaky trick to raise revenue for the insurance companies and elite visa scheme?

 

 

 

 

[glennb6]

simple - falang have more money and are not able to object to immigration regs and stay here, so they cook up a BS reason to steal

[wtfracing]

What happens when the insurance company denies the claim (which insurance companies have a long history of doing) because they can, then the alien is back to square one and so is the hospital. Common sense (something lacking here) would be a compulsory insurance like 3rd party car insurance has where everything is covered but not going to happen as no money in it.

[mercman24]

and yet the government funded Thai Airways, has not made a profit for years and in this second quarter has lost billions once again and nothing much is said about it. and they are worried about a few unpaid bills, i dont think for one moment it is us ex pats who live here, as they know where we live, so we are being penalised and put into this box as it were with those who do the runner,  now we are being asked to pay for the lax hospital authorities dealings with this problem.

[Pattaya46]

1 minute ago, glennb6 said:

simple - falang have more money and are not able to object to immigration regs and stay here, so they cook up a BS reason to steal

And were did they say it would be mandatory only for farangs ??

[bheard]

All we can do is wait and see what comes out and how it is written. Not going to speculate, but I have my feeling there is more to it than that..

"I still find this extremely hard to believe as the hospital will never let you leave until paid in full. How do you rack up a bill and then walk away?"

An easy way to do it (as a mate of mine did recently) is to die.
His good woman had to cough up lots of dosh as he'd been in a govt hosp for more than a month getting treatment for cancer, no insurance, then she had to fund his cremation as well.

Sent from my SM-T385 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[hansnl]

1 hour ago, holy cow cm said:

I still find this extremely hard to believe as the hospital will never let you leave until paid in full. How do you rack up a bill and then walk away?

 

All we can do is wait and see what comes out and how it is written. Not going to speculate, but I have my feeling there is more to it than that..

Private money machines do this to raise the amount on the bill even more

What is te use of doing that if there is no money?

[PatOngo]

18 minutes ago, fforest1 said:

How much will this insurance cost a 90 year alcoholic who smokes 3 packs a day has high blood pressure and loves late night illegal street racing with his over sized bike?

Depends whether or not he wears a helmet!

[kevinsan]

I believe Bangkok Bank already offers this exact coverage for 8000B a year for any age. The policy exactly matches the coverage requirements. Slowly boil the farang frog. Which visa categories are next, Sahibs? Or I could have been in a drunken stupor at the bank when the policy was being touted. Maybe it was just another banking nightmare. Devaluation Now, Devaluation Forever!

[MartinKal]

58 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Same here. Once you're conscious, and disconnected from any IV/monitors they watch you like a hawk, making doing a runner impossible.

 

I think a lot of the unrecovered medical expenses fall into two categories:

 

 - tourist has a minor accident, gets treatment maybe can't pay full boat.

 

 - tourist or foreigner dies after incurring medical treatment, making recovering payment challenging.

 

 

Anyone staying here on an extension could be found, and be made to pay or be deported. Implementing some insurance scheme seems like overkill, but then money to be made.

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe increased interest in TM30 is prep.

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, tracker1 said:

I would have thought with the millions of tourists flooding Thailand that they would be more of a medical problem then a few hundred expats living here !

I suspect there will be some confusion of who this applies to, so would the experts please share details of what is meant by 'Non-Imm O-A visas'.

[Fex Bluse]

1 hour ago, tracker1 said:

I would have thought with the millions of tourists flooding Thailand that they would be more of a medical problem then a few hundred expats living here !

They've been trying to get rid of us for some time. And, I think it will work. 

[Fex Bluse]

37 minutes ago, uncleeagle said:

And what if the vast majority of unpaid bills are incurred buy non O foreigners, such as ordinary tourists, or migrant workers, or other visitors?

I would estimate close to 0 (zero) percent

 

Thais, however, are notorious for not being able or being unwilling to pay medical bills. 

[wimpy]

Total BS. When I was at Chula hospital for weeks at a time, I had to settle my bill every few days. If  I didn't, you can be sure treatment would cease, and I would have been shown the exit.

[Longcut]

1 hour ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Same here. Once you're conscious, and disconnected from any IV/monitors they watch you like a hawk, making doing a runner impossible.

 

I think a lot of the unrecovered medical expenses fall into two categories:

 

 - tourist has a minor accident, gets treatment maybe can't pay full boat.

 

 - tourist or foreigner dies after incurring medical treatment, making recovering payment challenging.

 

 

Anyone staying here on an extension could be found, and be made to pay or be deported. Implementing some insurance scheme seems like overkill, but then money to be made.

 

 

 

 

 

I think most of the runners are probably workers from other asian countries. Making it easier to walk out of the hospital unnoticed.

We are just the chosen to help pay their bills. Because, as always we are an easy mark.

[Guderian]

Pathetic bunch of Thai scrooges, where's your Buddhist ethos of helping other people in need?

 

Tourism is worth between 1 and 2.5 trillion Baht a year to the Thai economy, depending on which source you look at, and these tightwads are worried about getting a measly billion Baht back? Pathetic!

[Time Traveller]

Good news, big profits coming for Thai insurance companies. 

Pay up you damm farang

[barryofthailand]

1 hour ago, burner2014 said:

Bt40,000 outpatient coverage???
This would be the worse. This means you need to buy a much more expansive coverage plan than you might need just for this visa. I am not interested in outpatient coverage and still forced to buy it?
This will shake out a lot of foreigners living here. As if the outpatient medical services would be the ones which have outstanding bills. No doctor treats you "outpatient" if you don't show your credit card or health insurance. It's all about emergencies (in terms of "open bills")

Would not affect foreigners living here as this is only for OA visas.  This is a retirement or marriage visa obtained in your home country. Retirement visas or extension of stays are not affected 

[Time Traveller]

11 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Pathetic bunch of Thai scrooges, where's your Buddhist ethos of helping other people in need?

 

Tourism is worth between 1 and 2.5 trillion Baht a year to the Thai economy, depending on which source you look at, and these tightwads are worried about getting a measly billion Baht back? Pathetic!

Thailand's become a joke of a country. Not only does farang get charged more than thais for virtually everything. They get stupid fines for address reporting mistakes (thats the reason the make it so complicated), ridiculous rules from immigration (you need money in the bank to prove you can support yourself, but you're not allowed to use it!!!!!) and now required to make mandatory donations to thai insurance companies.

It's not even a good place to invest anymore. Even at the worst, it was still way better under Thaksin's government.

Long live Thaksin, may he return to claim his rightful title that was stolen from him by criminals

 

 

[fforest1]

I cant wait to see the one sided tiny coverage high premium insurance they have cooked up for the ATM farang buffalo...

[holy cow cm]

42 minutes ago, bheard said:

 

 

"I still find this extremely hard to believe as the hospital will never let you leave until paid in full. How do you rack up a bill and then walk away?"

An easy way to do it (as a mate of mine did recently) is to die.
His good woman had to cough up lots of dosh as he'd been in a govt hosp for more than a month getting treatment for cancer, no insurance, then she had to fund his cremation as well.

Sent from my SM-T385 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

 

And so the hospital did not pay. And Gov hospitals are cheap as they come. So if this friend of yours did not have adequate money to cover a Gov hospital then that is another story, but I guess he did as his woman paid. If he stiffed his woman then shame on him. It should all be preset up.

[Time Traveller]

1 minute ago, fforest1 said:

I cant wait to see the one sided tiny coverage high premium insurance they have cooked up for the ATM farang buffalo...

_{Whatever the visa fee is, it's going to be times 10.}

[DLock]

Walking out of a hospital is not a criminal offense. It is civil. Police and immigration can do very little, although I have no doubt they will try to use intimidation to recover funds.

 

Hospitals can also not retain your passport legally. A call to your Embassy will solve that very quickly.

 

Most of the issues that we hear about are tourists who skip out on medical bills. Why don't they have a mandatory insurance scheme on arrival - say 500 or 1000 baht. 30million tourists is a lot of mandatory insurance money.

 

With my credit cards I get insurance cover far in excess of what they want - I wonder if that will suffice or by having a certain amount of money in the bank will suffice.

 

 

[Tofer]

1 hour ago, burner2014 said:

Bt40,000 outpatient coverage???
This would be the worse. This means you need to buy a much more expansive coverage plan than you might need just for this visa. I am not interested in outpatient coverage and still forced to buy it?
This will shake out a lot of foreigners living here. As if the outpatient medical services would be the ones which have outstanding bills. No doctor treats you "outpatient" if you don't show your credit card or health insurance. It's all about emergencies (in terms of "open bills")

I have visited 7 different hospitals and a few clinics all over the country for outpatient treatment, on more than one occasion, one resulting in a 3 day stay, others included expensive tests and dental treatment,  and never been asked for advance proof of funds to pay, nor have I been escorted to the cashiers counter with the bill. Also in many cases I have given an hotel as my address.

[miamiman123]

Who are these non immigrant o-a people examples??? 

[holy cow cm]

2 minutes ago, Time Traveller said:

_{Whatever the visa fee is, it's going to be times 10.}

1900 x 10. Ok. I will be ok with that with health coverage and no ridiculous worry of being deported.. 19000

[bluesea]

Just another Nail in your Coffin, it is getting more and More obvious they dont want expats here.

[Jip99]

2 minutes ago, DLock said:

Walking out of a hospital is not a criminal offense. It is civil. Police and immigration can do very little, although I have no doubt they will try to use intimidation to recover funds.

 

Hospitals can also not retain your passport legally. A call to your Embassy will solve that very quickly.

 

Most of the issues that we hear about are tourists who skip out on medical bills. Why don't they have a mandatory insurance scheme on arrival - say 500 or 1000 baht. 30million tourists is a lot of mandatory insurance money.

 

With my credit cards I get insurance cover far in excess of what they want - I wonder if that will suffice or by having a certain amount of money in the bank will suffice.

 

 

 

 

 

100 Baht a head would cover it......... wasn't that proposed earlier this year.

[Sir-Woody]

1 hour ago, burner2014 said:

That's a big issue of the insurance world anyways. But it's not 100% true. I asked this 4 months ago at a Thai Insurance Company and this was the answer:

 

"It is because XXX only accepts new applicants up to 70 years old, but there is no age limit for renewal clients. It means that if you apply for our health insurance before 70 years old, you can still renew even if you are 90 years old."

 

So choosing a health insurance when you still 50-60 years old is important to be insured when you 90.

 

Not strictly true, my international health insurer for 11 years dropped my at 65.

Get out clause being they are doing away with my type of policy, no offer to switch at all.

Thai companies may be different but when I searched for a new policy, I found there premiums were very expensive for the amount of cover offered.

[Time Traveller]

1 minute ago, Jip99 said:

 

 

 

100 Baht a head would cover it......... wasn't that proposed earlier this year.

Well yes, it would cover it. But this is all about Thai insurance companies making big profits. Why charge the foreigners 100 baht per person, when you can charge 10,000 baht per person. Knowing that they will pay!