Thai Government health insurance (employee)

[Firefan]

I have searched and asked for a clear answer to to this, but not found one. Foreigners, after more than 12 months employment (w. work permit of course) in a private sector job where pay into social security/government health plan - can continue to self pay (around 700 Baht/mth) even after job ended to maintain the health cover.

 

For how long can one do that? I.e. is it for life or does it stop, say at 60 years old being "normal" retirement age. And if it stops, is there then a provision to change to other Thai government health insurance ("30baht" or other).

 

Obviously it makes sense to also have private cover but that is not what this post is about. ???? Cheers!

[canopus1969]

For as long as you keep paying

[Sheryl]

As above. For life, if you keep up the payments.

 

Foreigners are not eligible for the 30 baht scheme.

[HampiK]

Actually it also could be enough when your wife is working as some company includes the husband in the insurance as well. 

I don't know if the husband can also use the insurance after the wife quit this job with further payments or this only work for the main person!

 

@Sheryl How secure you think is this Social Security Health plan in the longrun? As it would be very bad, when you quit your "april/Cigna/..." Insurance because of this and then in 5-6 years you will be kicked out of the social for whatever reason and then you maybe have additional exclusions when you want to rejoin your private Insurance...

[Sheryl]

The SS system is solid. As long as your payments are uninterrupted you are secure. It is enshrined in law under the Social Security Act and millions of Thai employees come under it.

 

The main disadvantage is you have to get all care at the same hospital so limited choice of doctors. Some people opt to have a hospitalization-only expat policy in addition, using SS for outpatient and simple things but having the option of choosing specialist at another hospital in case of anything major and complicated. But of course that means extra expense in premiums.

 

Be careful re thinking you are covered through wife's employment unless she is a civil servant. Most employees have just SS which (unless it is the Civil Service SS, a separate system) does not cover spouses. When Thai employers do offer private insurance it is usually a nearly worthless policy just for show (limits so low you'll exceed them in a day if seriously ill ) and also often does not include family. And coverage ends when the employment ends.

 

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[TerryLH]

On 10/11/2019 at 3:48 PM, Firefan said:

"...pay into social security/government health plan - can continue to self pay (around 700 Baht/mth) even after job ended to maintain the health cover."

I think the fee is still 432 baht per month.

Terry

[jaiyenyen]

Can you pay into this scheme after 60?

I'm 62 and work for a large private company, with a work permit. I also pay tax.

 

[Sheryl]

10 minutes ago, jaiyenyen said:

Can you pay into this scheme after 60?

I'm 62 and work for a large private company, with a work permit. I also pay tax.

 

 

I think you have to enroll before age 60.

 

If you started working before that age you should already be in it, with monthly deductions for it from your paycheck.

[dave s]

19 hours ago, Sheryl said:

The SS system is solid. As long as your payments are uninterrupted you are secure. It is enshrined in law under the Social Security Act and millions of Thai employees come under it.

 

 

 

 

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8 hours ago, TerryLH said:

I think the fee is still 432 baht per month.

Terry

 

Be very careful because this is Thailand. Government regulations and the law are too often irrelevant compared to the whims and fantasies of pompous government officials, who in a normal country would enforce that law, especially IOs. In the province where I live, the person at the local Thai social security office insists that a foreigner cannot continue paying the monthly fee himself to maintain coverage unless he has a Thai wife and also owns a corporation with at least 3 million baht of capital, and that because she is a government official she cannot possibly be wrong about this (no, she refuses to even glance at the applicable law). TIT.

 

Your monthly payment is based on a percentage of your salary, capped at both the lower and upper end. If you are retired, you have no income, so you would pay B432 a month, the minimum cap. If you are working and earn at or above the maximum salary subject to social security tax, you would pay B750 per month, the percentage for the maximum cap (and your employer would also pay monthly another amount for you).

[jaiyenyen]

9 hours ago, Sheryl said:

 

I think you have to enroll before age 60.

 

If you started working before that age you should already be in it, with monthly deductions for it from your paycheck.

Thanks for your reply Sheryl. Unfortunately for me, the company I worked for before ( Very large teaching agency ) didn't enrol me in the scheme. I was unaware of this.

I'm really angry that I've been cheated of this opportunity.

[Sheryl]

6 hours ago, dave s said:

Be very careful because this is Thailand. Government regulations and the law are too often irrelevant compared to the whims and fantasies of pompous government officials, who in a normal country would enforce that law, especially IOs. In the province where I live, the person at the local Thai social security office insists that a foreigner cannot continue paying the monthly fee himself to maintain coverage unless he has a Thai wife and also owns a corporation with at least 3 million baht of capital, and that because she is a government official she cannot possibly be wrong about this (no, she refuses to even glance at the applicable law). TIT.
 
Your monthly payment is based on a percentage of your salary, capped at both the lower and upper end. If you are retired, you have no income, so you would pay B432 a month, the minimum cap. If you are working and earn at or above the maximum salary subject to social security tax, you would pay B750 per month, the percentage for the maximum cap (and your employer would also pay monthly another amount for you).

A number of people have had problems with their local SS office. Calls or visit to the Bangkok HQ usually resolves it.

Having a pink ID card helps. One of the issues is that to set it up there is a mandatory field in the database for ID number. It is apparently possible to work around this for foreigners without ID card but most offices seem not to know how. I'm not sure how myself, maybe by entering a bunch of zeroes followed by passport number? Whatever number gets entered, that is the number you will then need when presenting at the hospital in order for them to find you in the system now that it is a paperless system. Since passport numbers often change as new ones are issued, another reason why pink ID card is desirable.

If even with ID card local office refuses to set it uo, one should call the HQ office then and there and ask them to talk to the staff concerned. Or else go in person to the main office and have them set it up.

A hassle, I agree. Unfortunately the Thai government bureaucracy seems to lack effective mechanisms for ensuring staff lower down in the hierarchy understand policies and procedures (case in point being the vague and garbled directives Immigration issues when there is a change in policy). Add to this the cultural taboo against asking questions of people above you, and the result is predictable.

Faced with anything they do not know how to do, many staff will prefer to say it can't be done rather than ask a superior or risk making a mistake.

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