Finding a Health Insurance

[NicolasM]

Hello. I am from South America and I am currently studying in Thailand, I plan to live here for the rest of my life (at least for the next 5 years), I already lived here for 2 years now, always with traveler health insurance. Now I am considering getting a health insurance from Thailand, but as I don't wanna pay huge money, I am 23 years old. What would you recommed me to do? I ride a motorcycle... so I think I definitely need some kind of insurance for myself in case something happen. Thank you very much.

[Sheryl]

Yes, certainly you need insurance if yo uwill be living here.  At your age there is abundant choice.

 

You do not need to get a health insurance "from Thailand" i.e. a Thai compnay to be insured in Thailand and it is usually better not to.  There are many solid international companies that issue policies specifically for expatriates. It is best to work through a broker as they can provide comparison charts and also help afterwards wioth any claims. You:ll want to make sure motorcycle accidents are covered

 

I use AA Brokers, www.aainure.net and have been very happy with the, they specializer in expat policies.

[scubascuba3]

Also consider Personal Accident Insurance, i use Axa 7k baht a year 250k medical cover per accident (15k for 500k), includes motorcycle, no deductible

[Sheryl]

250K medical cover will not go far at all. For older people that is the best you can get but for someone OP:s age can do better

 

Ask broker about this also. And check with whatever bank you use, some offer PA policies to their customers

 

It is nto absolutely necessary to have PA policy as main health insurance will cover hospitalization due to accident. However they are inexpensive and have the advantage of also including outpatient care.  While you can get a main health policy that includes outpatient the premiums are so high as to not be worth it so most people get hospitalization only.

[scubascuba3]

4 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

250K medical cover will not go far at all. For older people that is the best you can get but for someone OP:s age can do better

 

Ask broker about this also. And check with whatever bank you use, some offer PA policies to their customers

 

It is nto absolutely necessary to have PA policy as main health insurance will cover hospitalization due to accident. However they are inexpensive and have the advantage of also including outpatient care.  While you can get a main health policy that includes outpatient the premiums are so high as to not be worth it so most people get hospitalization only.

The 250k will at least get them started on you in an emergency. The max i saw with Axa was 500k+. It's not always worse case scenario

[tiocfaidh]

2 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Yes, certainly you need insurance if yo uwill be living here.  At your age there is abundant choice.

 

You do not need to get a health insurance "from Thailand" i.e. a Thai compnay to be insured in Thailand and it is usually better not to.  There are many solid international companies that issue policies specifically for expatriates. It is best to work through a broker as they can provide comparison charts and also help afterwards wioth any claims. You:ll want to make sure motorcycle accidents are covered

 

I use AA Brokers, www.aainure.net and have been very happy with the, they specializer in expat policies.

www.aainsure.net is the website.

Incorrect link in post. 

[Sheryl]

Yes, that was a typo

www.aainsure.net

[xylophone]

On 6/2/2020 at 12:44 PM, Sheryl said:

Yes, certainly you need insurance if yo uwill be living here.  At your age there is abundant choice

Just quoting a line from your post Sheryl in the hope that somebody can throw some light on the problem I have here with my current health insurance........... 

 

I was with BUPA for many years and recently that changed to Aetna, and I used to pay monthly from my Bangkok Bank account, mainly because the total amount payable was 133,000 baht per annum and I didn't want to bring that much money over and break my term deposits in my home country in order to do so (thereby losing money).

 

Now upon renewal, Aetna inform me that they will no longer deal with Bangkok Bank, and will not accept payments from them either by direct debit/credit or even cash/credit card, and I have telephoned my local agent and she said that this is the case, and I also telephoned head office and they confirmed that.

 

The only thing they could come up with was that I open another bank account with another bank, get a cash flow type card setup and transfer money on a monthly basis from Bangkok Bank to this other bank, then transfer the amount to Aetna!!!!

 

At my age (73 this year), and preconditions, getting another health insurance that will cover me as per this one, is impossible and I have tried many, many health insurance companies in order to do so.

 

So can anybody think of a way round this or am I between the proverbial "rock and a hard place".

 

And just to finish, quite why a major health insurance company refuses to deal with a major Thai bank is beyond my comprehension.

[Sheryl]

Sorry, I have nothing to suggest except a second bank account.

 

Strange indeed.

[thainet]

You said you have an agent, as I do (and probably most people). I just pay my agent for all my policies and they pay the insurance companies involved (medical or otherwise).

No need for 2nd bank accounts etc. Thats it--problem solved.

[scubascuba3]

3 hours ago, xylophone said:

Just quoting a line from your post Sheryl in the hope that somebody can throw some light on the problem I have here with my current health insurance........... 

 

I was with BUPA for many years and recently that changed to Aetna, and I used to pay monthly from my Bangkok Bank account, mainly because the total amount payable was 133,000 baht per annum and I didn't want to bring that much money over and break my term deposits in my home country in order to do so (thereby losing money).

 

Now upon renewal, Aetna inform me that they will no longer deal with Bangkok Bank, and will not accept payments from them either by direct debit/credit or even cash/credit card, and I have telephoned my local agent and she said that this is the case, and I also telephoned head office and they confirmed that.

 

The only thing they could come up with was that I open another bank account with another bank, get a cash flow type card setup and transfer money on a monthly basis from Bangkok Bank to this other bank, then transfer the amount to Aetna!!!!

 

At my age (73 this year), and preconditions, getting another health insurance that will cover me as per this one, is impossible and I have tried many, many health insurance companies in order to do so.

 

So can anybody think of a way round this or am I between the proverbial "rock and a hard place".

 

And just to finish, quite why a major health insurance company refuses to deal with a major Thai bank is beyond my comprehension.

Maybe they want the money in another currency, not thai baht, if you got a Mastercard debit\credit card the insurer could confirm the amount and you set up payment.

 

They need to better explain what the problem is, ask to speak to manager, sometimes in Thailand they don't understand and bluff it rather than asking management for help.

 

The less painful approach is just open another bank account

Edited June 5, 2020 by scubascuba3

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

Sorry, I have nothing to suggest except a second bank account.

 

8 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

 

The less painful approach is just open another bank account

Well, that's what I did in the end!! Not too painful apart from 35 mins of form filling.

 

Now to go to Bangkok Bank and set up a monthly payment from that bank to Siam Commercial, then set up a direct credit from there to Aetna....

 

Like Sheryl said, "strange indeed".

[4MyEgo]

On 6/5/2020 at 2:50 PM, xylophone said:

Now upon renewal, Aetna inform me that they will no longer deal with Bangkok Bank, and will not accept payments from them either by direct debit/credit or even cash/credit card, and I have telephoned my local agent and she said that this is the case, and I also telephoned head office and they confirmed that.

If it's as easy to opening up another account, do it.

 

My insurer only accepts payment in USD so depending on the exchange rate at the time it can be worrying, add on top of that, that my overseas bank charges me a 2.5% international transaction fee for the amount transferred to the insurer, around an extra 2,000 baht, go figure, but that will all be changing when I return to my homeland come end of the year, no more private cover required as I will be covered under my home countries Medicare system which is free.

[Sheryl]

AETNA Thailand is a Thai company so it will not have been an issue of currency.

 

No idea what the issue was, but not that.

[xylophone]

2 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

AETNA Thailand is a Thai company so it will not have been an issue of currency.

 

No idea what the issue was, but not that.

I think you are right on that Sheryl, and I did ask the agent to contact their head office and find out more about it, and all she would say is that, "they have had a falling out".

 

She is a very good English speaker and knew exactly what I was trying to ascertain, so knowing Thailand, it's either a cost problem between the two entities, or a loss of face scenario??

 

Anyway I've almost got it fixed through another bank, although I didn't want to have bank accounts with separate banks, with transfers from my main bank going out to my daughter and other folks, yet one specific bank/bank account/transfer purely for the payment to Aetna.

 

But at least it's fixed, or shortly will be.

 

Thanks to all for the suggestions.