Advertorial Typical outpatient treatments covered by an expat health insurance plan

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Typical outpatient treatments covered by an expat health insurance plan

 

 

While having hospital insurance in any foreign country is a must, as it covers the most expensive treatment costs, expats living and working in Thailand long-term usually also look for an outpatient health insurance plan to cater to their other, sometimes ongoing, medical conditions. Outpatient care doesn’t require the patient to stay overnight in the hospital and it usually consists of seeing a doctor or having a scheduled day-surgery or medical tests done.  

 

The private sector for outpatient care 

Without the outpatient health insurance, you will need to pay for medical doctor’s visits, check-ups, and medications yourself. These costs can add up to a significant amount, especially if you use the private healthcare sector. Private healthcare is a preferred choice for most expats, because of the ease of communication with medical practitioners as opposed to only Thai-speaking doctors in the public sector. 

 

Most expat health insurance plans offer coverage for private outpatient care. Scheduling and attending doctor’s visits in the private sector is also less troublesome as they can be done online and in English. To access public outpatient care, you would usually have to call, and know at least intermediate Thai to make an appointment, as most administrative staff in public facilities won’t know enough English to help you out. 

 

What does outpatient coverage offer?

As a rule, most outpatient plans sold in Thailand - be it a local or international plan - tend to cover similar benefits, such as:
 

• Medical practitioner costs including consultations and general checkups
• Specialist costs for referral visits
• Alternative treatments and therapies
• Vaccinations
• Prescribed outpatient medications
• Diagnostic tests e.g. X-rays, MRI, etc
• Scheduled health check-ups
• Medically necessary home nursing
• Physiotherapy
• Medical supplies, like splints and casts
• Laboratory tests

 

Our advice is to carefully check your plan’s benefits schedule of outpatient services as expat health insurance plans tend to differ greatly depending on the country, your coverage scopes, and even insurance company and network of providers.

 

One more thing to note here, that specialist appointments and any tests and diagnostics will only be covered by the insurance if deemed “medically necessary” - in short, your GP has to refer you to a specialist, and you also need referrals for all tests and medications. 

 

Wellness benefits 

Your plan may also offer wellness benefits and state it will cover preventive checkups and screening services. Otherwise, if you just want to check the state of your current health without any previous medical referrals, you will end up paying for those health screenings out of your own pocket. 

 

Network providers 

Many insurance companies offer a so-called “direct-billing” option, where you don’t need to pay for the care upfront, provided that you choose to receive medical care from one of the in-network healthcare providers your insurer works with. 

 

If you decide to see a doctor who is not in the insurer’s network of providers, then you’ll usually have to pay upfront for the visit, and claim later. Very often, insurers also place a cap on how much they will reimburse you if you opt to see a doctor outside of their network of healthcare providers. 

 

Expat medical insurance in Thailand and outpatient plans

If you would like to find out more about the best outpatient plans and benefits on the market, we recommend contacting experts from Pacific Prime Thailand, a leading insurance broker for expats. 

 

Whether you want to compare your existing plan’s benefits and price with others available on the market, or looking for a specific type of plan, such as an expat family health insurance plan, or a retiree medical plan, Pacific Prime has solutions for that, too.