Advice or experience with health insurers Aetna, AXA, April? Seeking new policy

[JCCC]

We are an expat couple in 50-55 age band and looking at options for health insurance providers due to our company changing insurers. I have quotes from all the majors, but based on comments in TV about a few insurers (mainly around rapid cost increases if the insurance is used, severe restrictions on pre-existing conditions, tendency of some to disallow claims as a standing policy), I've narrowed it down to:

* Aetna (platinum plan which is the only one that reaches govt covid coverage requirement)

* AXA (smartcare optimum)

* April (no plan selected yet)

 

I'd never heard of April before but Aetna and AXA are international so I assume would provide decent service and standard coverage of claims, etc., but I see few mentions of them in TV compared to others, so I just want to check I'm not missing anything.

 

Any advice or positive/negative experience with these 3 insurers in Thailand would be much appreciated!

[scubascuba3]

I looked at April (Thailand rather than Intl), they go back to birth for some preexisting conditions where as companies in Europe only go back 2 or 5 years, for example I haven't had asthma for 33 years but it was excluded

[Mike Teavee]

Following with interest as I'm in the same age bracket (54) & looking for Health Insurance.

 

I'm leaning towards Pacific Cross or Aetna so would be interested to know why you ruled out Pacific Cross @JCC

[rak sa_ngop]

Check out WRLife. ( Nothing to do with William Russel). Affordable with both Thai and International policies. I recently switched to them to save $$$ and to know that I will still be able to afford their premiums in 20 years time. My previous policy was doubling every 7 years!!!!!!!

[Sheryl]

Be aware that Aetna Thailand is NOT the same as Aetna international and I suspect it is Aetna Thailand you are looking at. The companies are affiliated but the policies and most importantly the legal regulations governing them are very different.

 

Likewise AXA and April have local Thai Affiliates.

 

One of the biggest problems with Thai based companies is that Thai health insurance regs are much weaker  than those of western countries. They allow, for example, the insurer to raise rates on an individual basis if you have large claims or a change in health status  (this in addition to age-related increases, which all insurers do). This even if they guarantee life time renewal (and not all thai companies do that!), they can effectively price you out.  And they often do (April Thailand to date has opted not to do this and instead be "community rated", but they could if they wanted to and language allowing it is written into their policies - Thai OIC requires it (!!). For this reason I advise against getting a Thai issued policy if you plan to grow old here. Internationally issued expat policy are far safer and usually do nto cost more; in fact for the level of cover they are better value for money. And many have direct payment arrangements with Thai hospitals. Some even have offices here.

 

I have April Global policy, issued out of France and have been happy with it.

 

I would be wary of new companies with no track record, which WRLife is. They may prove to be OK but there is too little experience to date.

 

Whatever policy you choose, you should go through a broker. Does not cost more and they will help with any issues that may arise afterwards with claims. Broker (a good one - nto all are) can provide comparison charts of policy options and also show you what rates are currently like by age to give you an idea how much they will go up (but as explained what is shown for Thai companies assumes no large claims and no change in health status so not reliable indicator of what you may have to pay as you age).

 

My broker is AA. www.aainsure.net

 

 

[rak sa_ngop]

There is an short archived TV  thread from Jan 2016 about WRLife. It erroneously suggests that WRLife is part of the William Russell health insurance UK company. I believe there is no connection.  So WRLife has been around for a five years at least. Maybe I will be able to post my experiences of this company in a few years time if/when I need to make a claim.

 

But yes I agree with Sheryl, not much to go on with this company at the moment.