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

[sqwakvfr]

On a practical matter.  If one is applying for the Non Imm OA at an overseas embassy/consulate and needs to purchase the required Health Insurance on the MFA link I do not see how it can be done?  I have looked into this(I might attempt another OA next year) and it appears the approved companies on the MFA link do not offer an Online Portal to purchase a policy.  It appears many of them require one to print out an application, fill it out and then mail it to the company or an authorized agent inside Thailand?  

 

I hope the upcoming announcement clarifies this practical matter?

[bikerbri]

Expats with 800,000/ 400,000 deposits in Thai banks already have insurance. Why would they need more?

[nong38]

1 hour ago, Caine said:

My god not more forms,  do you honestly think these thieving bastards would pay out on any claims. Best insure with western reputable companies.

 

They will insist on local insurers you can bet on that, otherwise the extra money cannot be guaranteed coming in, money going out to pay for hospitals etc is another topic.

[davehowden]

2 minutes ago, sqwakvfr said:

On a practical matter.  If one is applying for the Non Imm OA at an overseas embassy/consulate and needs to purchase the required Health Insurance on the MFA link I do not see how it can be done?  I have looked into this(I might attempt another OA next year) and it appears the approved companies on the MFA link do not offer an Online Portal to purchase a policy.  It appears many of them require one to print out an application, fill it out and then mail it to the company or an authorized agent inside Thailand?  

 

I hope the upcoming announcement clarifies this practical matter?

You "tink too mush"

 

Firstly Immigration need to sort out what it is they require, take about 12 months.

 

Then FO need to work out how they will implement the new requirement, take about 12 months.

 

Then the FO need to update their online application to include the new requirement for health insurance, take about 12 months.

 

And so on and so on, I will be long departed on a pig roast before this happens.  

[Tuvoc]

10 minutes ago, sambum said:

 I think it's just yet another not so subtle way of saying we "Old Timers" (No offence meant!) are not welcome any more.

 

It really does seem that way. It may be in future that "Old Timers" married to a Thai may need to get marriage extensions rather than the easier retirement extensions - would they care about potentially breaking up families ? Who knows. Let's wait and see what transpires.

[Isaan sailor]

I shall wait and see, as we all will. It I have a special interest here, since I’ve had O-A visas (with extensions) for eight years.  Why an O-A Visa?  Because I take multiple trips to USA.  And the marriage option is far easier to obtain in home country than in LoS.  The local Immigration office openly discourages the marriage visa—too much work for them.  Sure feels like O-As are the guinea pigs now.

[lclark0751]

3 hours ago, Vacuum said:

I think the 800K is taken under concideration, but as the non-oa visas don't require any 800k in the bank, they want some sort of security/insurance from people who use these kind of visas.

I think one of us is very confused.  I have an O-A Retirement visa and it does require 800K in a thai bank account (or proof of equivalent monthly income) as a condition of getting an annual extension.  And when I applied for the visa in the States before I came to Thailand, I had to include a copy of my most recent bank statement showing USD equivalent to 800Kbaht in the bank, plus a letter from the bank verifying that balance.

[UKresonant]

3 hours ago, gearbox said:

I'm on an O-A retirement visa here, and the last time I looked at the visa conditions they just define me as a long term tourist here. Not resident. I don't have a right to work here, or any more rights than a tourist on a 7 days holiday.

That's the way I see it, I was looking at the O-A Long Stay visa as a possible alternative to the non-O ME that they have ceased to issue in the UK. If the insurance is added as a cut and paste from the O-X style conditions, with a 180 days minimum in Thailand on the conditions of many of the policies issued in Thailand.  How would it provide any coverage obtaining the O-A in home country, as a first timer, or if the person is using it as part of a multiple location Retirement plan, if you have not or can't be sure of exceeding 180 days in Thailand. Would the policy be able to be purchased, or if purchase make it ineffective for the first 6 months...as well as the cost Vs cover considerations. The small print will need careful reading when it comes out????. 

Long term tourist status ????seems the only realistic way to consider things now, unfortunately ????

[Ctkong]

8 hours 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 !

Thai logic. Go for the low hanging fruit first. Tourists are left alone for the time being because of the fear that it may frighten them away given the high baht . 

[Mavideol]

9 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.

so if understand correctly all of us with extensions of stay/retired people are not YET on their target

[bikerbri]

This visa is not for tourist. O-A visa’s are for long stay. 50 years or older and are only available on line.

[ThomasThBKK]

38 minutes ago, Chiang Mai Bill said:

Yes. Whenever I've been treated in hospitals in Chiang Mai and Bangkok I had to provide a credit card before receiving any treatment.  

 

I would expect that there is more likelihood of the soon-to-be-seen influx of Chinese, Pakistani, and Indian short-term tourists not paying -- especially the Indian and Pakistani who will 'disappear' once past Immigration!

i never had to....samitivej and bumrungrad, neither on any island hospital, no one ever asked me for payment upfront

Nor do restaurants, running away without paying is fraud and jail anyway...

 

Do you think theyll ask u for your credit card and let you bleed to death after a car crash...?!

[Jumbo1968]

32 minutes ago, bikerbri said:

Expats with 800,000/ 400,000 deposits in Thai banks already have insurance. Why would they need more?

Not if they used an Agent to procure their Extension of Stay/Retirement Visa.

[bikerbri]

Non Immigrant O-A visas for Uk citizens are now available on line only. 
 

 

 

 

 

[lclark0751]

2 hours ago, Jip99 said:

 

 

No

I think you're wrong (about the health insurance requirement NOT applying to extensions to O-A Visas).  The following video by Benjamin Hart of Integrity Legal in Bangkok explains why:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCQ-gH_JHrU

 

 

[payanak]

8 hours ago, ThaiBunny said:

In at least two hospitals I've been in, unless you are personally conducted to the cashier (which didn't happen to me), you just walk out

I have been to the ER in several hospitals in my years here.  In every case, after an initial quick diagnosis, a girl came into the ER with a hand held credit card processor and immediately charged out the estimate for treatment.  The fee was paid in full while sitting there on the gurney, before anything else was done.  I have never been escorted to the cashier window.  I must be going to the wrong hospitals.  I was never presented with the possibility of just walking out without paying as you were. 

Like others here, I highly doubt there is a huge debt load being run up by foreigners.  Just another scam to extort money from all the rich, gullible farangs.

[lclark0751]

2 hours ago, Parsve said:

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

I agree Parsve.  I think many people are very confused.  Benjamin Hard of Integrity Legal in Bangkok discusses why that interpretation is most likely wrong in this video:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCQ-gH_JHrU

 

[Jip99]

1 minute ago, lclark0751 said:

I agree Parsve.  I think many people are very confused.  Benjamin Hard of Integrity Legal in Bangkok discusses why that interpretation is most likely wrong in this video:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCQ-gH_JHrU

 

 

 

There are enough posts on here (notably UbonJoe) which confirm that the mandatory insurance only applies to Non Immigrant "O-X' visas. Now apparently being extended to O-A.

 

Never applicable to annual extensions.

[Mango Bob]

6 minutes ago, lclark0751 said:

I agree Parsve.  I think many people are very confused.  Benjamin Hard of Integrity Legal in Bangkok discusses why that interpretation is most likely wrong in this video:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCQ-gH_JHrU

 

Open your eyes and read the first post in which is says it only apply to O/A visa not extension of stays.  But I still want Thaivisa to explain what is the source for there information here.  They come out with this just to get people to post here but can not provide the source.  

[Johnthplumb]

9 hours ago, ThaiBunny said:

In at least two hospitals I've been in, unless you are personally conducted to the cashier (which didn't happen to me), you just walk out

Did you ??

[lclark0751]

30 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

so if understand correctly all of us with extensions of stay/retired people are not YET on their target

That is not how Benjamin Hart of Integrity Legal in Bangkok sees it:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCQ-gH_JHrU

 

[lclark0751]

11 minutes ago, Mango Bob said:

Open your eyes and read the first post in which is says it only apply to O/A visa not extension of stays.  But I still want Thaivisa to explain what is the source for there information here.  They come out with this just to get people to post here but can not provide the source.  

Open your eyes for 12 minutes and watch the video:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCQ-gH_JHrU

 

[MRToMRT]

1 hour ago, sqwakvfr said:

On a practical matter.  If one is applying for the Non Imm OA at an overseas embassy/consulate and needs to purchase the required Health Insurance on the MFA link I do not see how it can be done?  I have looked into this(I might attempt another OA next year) and it appears the approved companies on the MFA link do not offer an Online Portal to purchase a policy.  It appears many of them require one to print out an application, fill it out and then mail it to the company or an authorized agent inside Thailand?  

 

I hope the upcoming announcement clarifies this practical matter?

You have to email/phone the company you choose, they then send you an application forum to fill out, then the quote and you accept/or not. I did it. Age 54 and no preconditions was 41K a year, which I thought was robbery for what it was. 

I was looking at the O-X but in the end I saw no real advantages (esp financial) over keeping up my current insurance (whose coverage is massive compared to the crappy offering under the Thai scheme) and just continue getting extensions of stay.

[PdJ100712]

This is pure, unadultered, industrial-strength BS. I doubt whether they are smart enough to be able to link up the 1 billion baht unpaid medical bills precisely to Non-Immigrant O visa holders. This is just another money-making scheme from xenophobic Thailand. This country is striving for 50 million tourists a year and zero long-term residents.

[Mango Bob]

5 minutes ago, lclark0751 said:

Open your eyes for 12 minutes and watch the video:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCQ-gH_JHrU

 

He doesn't work for the Thai government or Immigrations.  He is here to make money.

[Number 6]

Not a popular visa with good reason anyway.

 

I imagine with this news there will be 10-15 unhappy people tonight.

[jvs]

I have not read any reactions,i do not see the point on speculating what may or may not happen

but good for clicks for sure.

Lets just wait and see what happens,worrying about a thing like this does not help anybody.

Like so many things here it may just fade out to nothing or not,lets just wait and see.

[Traubert]

2 hours ago, ThailandGuy said:

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?

 

No they haven't.

 

They are considering extending an existing arrangement of a year long visa FEE waiver to 19 countries that includes China and India for short term tourists so can everyone please stop weeping over it.

 

I'm beginning to understand why so many people here have difficulty with immigration rules lately.

[Rocking Robert]

Insurance is everything. You can’t expect other to pay your way 

[steve73]

I don't know whether this point has been made yet as I've not read through all 18 pages so far.

 

But anyone staying here on a retirement extension, using the money in the bank has to keep a minimum of 400k all year round, which in a medical emergency would be available, and unlike the proposed insurance there would be no "denied claims for pre-conditions", and it would be available to everyone regardless of age.

 

As such it would certainly be preferable to being forced to waste perhaps 15-40% of this every year to take what could be totally worthless mandatory insurance.  I do realise that once used it would probably result in your next extension being denied, and you would need to start-over again.

 

It just seems a little coincidental that the level of cover being mandated for the O-A (as for the O-X already) is the same as the minimum balance we must keep. 

 

I realise also that 400k is probably not enough cover for many illnesses, especially if wanting to use private hospitals, but if this considered critical, then surely a higher figure should be mandated for the insurance.

 

I could foresee such insurance being mandated for those on extensions using the monthly income method, where they may not have access to ANY funds in the event of hospitalisation.