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

[ThaiBunny]

Just now, Rocket Hawks said:

Travel insurance seems like a scam to me. Does anyone actually know of someone where having travel insurance was actually useful?

Spent 8 days in hospital in a Third World country (New Zealand) with broken bones. My TI policy included a cash payment of $800 per day for every night I spent in hospital after the first one. A nice little earner

[uncleeagle]

3 hours ago, yellowboat said:

Scam, pick a neighboring country to reside, and only visit Thailand when the itch needs to be scratched. 

 

Thats my plan....done with this nonsense...the TM30 was close

to being the final straw...but there is no way I am going to be scammed out of 30-50K a year for insurance i dont need and would be useless anyway....i already have insurance....what this scheme amounts to is a 30-50K charge for the one year visa extension...although even if you buy the policy you could of course still be rejected so its actually worse than a fee.

 

So instead of spending 6-8 months a year in thailand and spending well over a million baht in the country i will spend one or two months on 30 day visa exemptions and thailand will lose a million baht or so...thats a lot of new indian or chinese tourists they will need to find...or whatever their latest preferred ethnic group is.

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2019 by uncleeagle

[bowerboy]

6 minutes ago, Rocket Hawks said:

Interesting. I travel a lot. Just got back from France. I’ve never thought to get travel insurance. I’ve always thought travel insurance was for suckers. Good luck getting the insurance to cover you ???? hah. 

 

Never had had an issue with not having travel insurance in Europe or Asia but that may have something to do with being a US citizen?

 

Travel insurance seems like a scam to me. Does anyone actually know of someone where having travel insurance was actually useful?

 

Stupidity beyond words and certainly not worthy of further comment.

[Jip99]

1 minute ago, bowerboy said:

 

Stupidity beyond words and certainly not worthy of further comment.

 

 

True.... but I will comment for those, brighter than that poster, who may welcome an example of the benefits of having travel insurance.

 

 

A friend had an accident in Asia and his travel insurance covered the hospital bills etc. He subsequently died and the travel insurance covered not only the pre-death hospital bills but also the repatriation of his body to the UK. Without that cover in place the family could not have afforded the repatriation costs and would have not had the UK burial they dearly wanted.

[Parsve]

I have been at seven different hospitals and in all of those it was possible to just walk out after the treatment if you liked to. But when you come in as a patient you are registred. Last time, at one of the hospitals in Pattaya, when I was standing waiting to pay. My wife called me and said that I had to go back and pay, the hospital had called her and claiming. What had happen was that they had of misstake bring my papers to another place then where I had live them and was standing waiting to get them back. So they have control. The call to my wife come when I had been waiting for about one hour. Bigger treatment they do not start without to be sure to be paid. Except for life suppot care. So I guess they are very good at that, they must be if the nearly dying patient suddenly raise up and walk away without paying.

[johnarth]

5 hours ago, Vacuum said:

Yes, but many expats can't get an insurance because of their age.

exactly I can not wait to see what new insurance plan they are going to bring out for us over 75 people so far no insurance company in the world will tackle it sorry there was one but they wanted three times more than your pension not an option and it has been stated that it is not us that owes the money but Cambodians and the like but they have no hope of getting the money from them yes a real money spin

[sambum]

"The mandatory health insurance requirement was proposed to help Thailand tackle the large number of unpaid medical bills from foreigners who receive treatment in "Thai state hospitals." (And to swell the coffers of the poor hard done by insurance companies who are occasionally made to "cough up"?)?)

 

I would suggest that as so often is the case here, the wrong people are being targetted. The large number of unpaid bills are probably to "Thai private hospitals", and that the majority of these bills are run up by tourists, and not long  term stayers. The prices that some of these private hospitals charge are exorbitant (as mentioned numerous times) and I would also hazard a guess that a lot of these unpaid bills are due to the insurance money running out - it may well cover the cost of initial treatment in, for instance, a motor bike accident, but the post op care can very quickly mount up - especially in the "rip off" private sector. 

 

So the solution is to make medical insurance compulsory for people who live here? Why not make medical insurance mandatory for EVERY tourist? 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2019 by sambum

[Felt 35]

Is this O-A also including they who extend their stay at Immigration here every year, i.e. reason for extension retirement?

Thanks

Felt

[Jip99]

1 minute ago, Felt 35 said:

Is this O-A also including they who extend their stay at Immigration here every year, i.e. reason for extension retirement?

Thanks

Felt

 

 

No

[eddysmit]

6 hours 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..

True, for my experiences for the great first class medical treatment received I would be interested to know how all these non-payers managed to 'escape' without paying, maybe I'm missing something seeing as for all my visits the hospitals have quietly requested some kind of guarantee of payment, two years ago the good hospital I have been using for a long time now asked for a deposit before proceeding with an outpatient small operation,plus copies of my passport,which I believe is the first thing any hospital and clinic ask for,well they always do for me,a few years before I had a bigger operation and a deposit was paid before proceeding,after three days of hospital stay myself in a wheelchair and my good lady were discretely escorted to the payment office to settle up the full bill,I really cannot see this amount of non-payers being true.

[kevinmartyn]

This is total bullshit for me as I'm from the UK and staying here on a retirement visa! There is no possibility that i can afford health insurance here in Thailand. I looked into thos amd was quoted 10,00 USD per annum!

[ExpatOne]

5 hours ago, Vacuum said:

Yes, but many expats can't get an insurance because of their age.

Unfortunately they will have to leave. ☹️

[Vacuum]

28 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

Unsure about that . Seems to me that most people on Retirement or Marriage extension try to avoid this option, mainly since it's a 1 year seasoning. Better places to put that money.

Like giving them away to insurance companies?

[kevinmartyn]

I don't know about all you other foreigners living in Thailand on a retirement visa but for sure this is the last nail in the "coffin" for me and after 13 years here and jusy last week quoted  12,500++ usd for health care for 12 months.

 

 I shall make arrangements to leave Banglok ASAP.!

[MRToMRT]

I don't have any issue with the mandatory insurance, I have had to have it for other countries as well. 

 

BIG question though is will you be able to choose your plan and provider and not be limited to the current Thai based provider/schemes like on the O-X. 

[gearbox]

1 minute ago, kevinmartyn said:

I don't know about all you other foreigners living in Thailand on a retirement visa but for sure this is the last nail in the "coffin" for me and after 13 years here and jusy last week quoted  12,500++ usd for health care for 12 months.

 

 I shall make arrangements to leave Banglok ASAP.!

That number looks quite steep, what is your age? Only O-A visas so far would require mandatory health insurance, if you are on a different visa you can try to get travel insurance, it probably will be way cheaper.

[raccos21]

[Parsve]

4 hours ago, barryofthailand said:

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 

Well, I have lived here on an extended  OA for five years now. So I have hard to believe what you say.

[madmen]

14 minutes ago, kevinmartyn said:

I don't know about all you other foreigners living in Thailand on a retirement visa but for sure this is the last nail in the "coffin" for me and after 13 years here and jusy last week quoted  12,500++ usd for health care for 12 months.

 

 I shall make arrangements to leave Banglok ASAP.!

Damn you must be over 100

[Traubert]

5 hours 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?

Well that feller hasn't got a damn thing to worry about and neither have the authorities. ????

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

So in essence, they want the majority of expats who are retired  elderly expats, living on fixed income and other expats to foot the bill for the tourists who come here and for whatever reasons require medical treatment and leave without settling their bill either by returning home or exiting life. In other words, having The Few pay for The Many. 

[Thaifriends]

1 hour ago, tabarin said:

It does not matter what visa you are on, if you stay for 8 months per year in Thailand, you are a fiscal resident here too.
The reality is that even most Thais do not pay taxes.

So new law says take insurance on Non OA then take it. Goes for everyone in this category.

 

Whether Thais pay taxes or not its not my concern but many foreigners are doing as well. Can they do back home, not at all. 

Edited August 18, 2019 by Thaifriends

[Letseng]

6 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

In all the hospitals I have been in, there was no chance to just walk out. One is chaperoned to the cashier. Although on a couple instances they did leave while I waited to be called to the window which could have been a chance to do a runner. But that never entered my mind. 

I spent 4 days in hospital. They had the guarantee of payment from the insurance. I could not leave until money was in the hospital account. There was no way to get past the nurses station. How do others do it?

Edited August 18, 2019 by Letseng

[fforest1]

13 minutes ago, MRToMRT said:

I don't have any issue with the mandatory insurance, I have had to have it for other countries as well. 

 

BIG question though is will you be able to choose your plan and provider and not be limited to the current Thai based provider/schemes like on the O-X. 

There is nothing wrong with the O-X visa or insurance....All 10 people who have the O-X visa say its great...

[dcnx]

7 hours ago, rooster59 said:

As of today, the mandatory health insurance requirement has only been proposed for Non-Immigrant O-A visas and not for other visa types or extensions of stay.

This will be applied to all visas eventually, you can count on it. Just like they charge and target certain visas one at a time. 
 

Once they get the kinks worked out, you’ll have to have it.

[madmen]

2 hours ago, randy723 said:

This is 100% bulls s*** the hospitals will not help you until you show that you can and will not let you leave until you do pay.

BS. had a friend just die after a month coma in ubon without insurance

[Letseng]

18 minutes ago, MRToMRT said:

I don't have any issue with the mandatory insurance, I have had to have it for other countries as well. 

 

BIG question though is will you be able to choose your plan and provider and not be limited to the current Thai based provider/schemes like on the O-X. 

Big question is will you find an insurer to cover you once you passed the 65 mark?

[dcnx]

3 minutes ago, Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere said:

So in essence, they want the majority of expats who are retired  elderly expats, living on fixed income and other expats to foot the bill for the tourists who come here and for whatever reasons require medical treatment and leave without settling their bill either by returning home or exiting life. In other words, having The Few pay for The Many. 

You’re over thinking it.

 

Everyone is a foreigner. You’re not special because you currently live here.

[ThailandGuy]

16 minutes ago, kevinmartyn said:

I don't know about all you other foreigners living in Thailand on a retirement visa but for sure this is the last nail in the "coffin" for me and after 13 years here and jusy last week quoted  12,500++ usd for health care for 12 months.

 

 I shall make arrangements to leave Banglok ASAP.!

Maybe that is exactly the purpose of all. And from their point of few i can understand that. But it is a few rotten expats and tourist apples that f... up for all the rest. But even many Tourist don't have health insurance. Nobody checks that as they do not care about that?

Given what the insurance costs are in Thailand i believe they don't want expats to stay and live there anymore. Many will leave the country. Maybe they only want the tourist and take those without health and travel insurance for granted. But with the exchange rate of the Baht the tourist visiting Thailand will not increase but sooner reduce.

To compensate this they provide/offer 1 year visa's  for people from China and India. Apparently they do not want tourist from other countries to stay longer then 30 days?

In the past when they needed them (their money) and it was:  "welcome and hope to see you again soon". Now that economy is going better in Thailand it is: "farewell and do not come back please".  is it a big middle finger to all the expats?

The Land of the smiles is loosing it's smile more and more. Sad, Sad, sad !

[Jumbo1968]

5 hours ago, Longcut said:

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.

Walking ATM you mean.