Insurance for 78 year old

[bish]

I'm 78 years old and I left Thailand last Sept 2020 to care for my brother in the UK. I'm on a one-year extension to stay based on a retirement visa which expires on June  6th. What insurance do I need to return to Thailand? Does it have to be a Thai Insurance company or can I return on a 90-day travel insurance UK based? 

Anyone on here been dealing with the Thai Embassy in London?

Thanks in advance for any helpful reply's

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[talahtnut]

I believe you can find most of the information on the Royal Thai Embassy web site.

Your insurance is going to be very expensive. Quite a few, like me, are not going to bother,

as UK summer is not that far off.

Good luck with your plans mate.

[chockchai12]

Hi, 

 

try this company for a quote and let us know how you get on and if successful, how much as I am sure others would like to know  They reply immediately. I used them (I am under 60) and they are way cheaper than anyone else plus cover everything connected to Covid unlike the more expensive insurances in their small print.

 

Here's the link https://misterprakan.com/en/health/health-insurance-thailand 

[lassebasse]

You need two types of insurance. One is a general health insurance and if you can get a 90-day travel insurance it would probably do. Are you planning to stay on 90 days?

Second you need to Covid-insurance that specifically covers up to US 100.000 for Covid related costs. This insurance you can buy online from Thai insurance companies. If you use Google you will find a list of these companies.

Your travel insurance might cover Covid and in this case you do not need one extra insurance.

 

Do not forget that the insurance must cover the whole period of stay!

[peteralex]

47 minutes ago, lassebasse said:

You need two types of insurance. One is a general health insurance and if you can get a 90-day travel insurance it would probably do. Are you planning to stay on 90 days?

Second you need to Covid-insurance that specifically covers up to US 100.000 for Covid related costs. This insurance you can buy online from Thai insurance companies. If you use Google you will find a list of these companies.

Your travel insurance might cover Covid and in this case you do not need one extra insurance.

 

Do not forget that the insurance must cover the whole period of stay!

 

Hi, check out this one, the health insurance premium seems to be VERY reasonable especially for your age, plus a low premium for covid coverage in TH . I found this one advertised at TVF. It appears to be too competitive to be true. Let us know about your inquiries.

https://en.samui.consulting/insurance?utm_source=Santa&fbclid=IwAR0JWpK7YdSLL8Snf1aFSMJPlVLhjyqH9v8i6Ve4GYvRWQ4G4oZ9lPlcxi8 

[sghanchey]

25 minutes ago, peteralex said:

 

Hi, check out this one, the health insurance premium seems to be VERY reasonable especially for your age, plus a low premium for covid coverage in TH . I found this one advertised at TVF. It appears to be too competitive to be true. Let us know about your inquiries.

https://en.samui.consulting/insurance?utm_source=Santa&fbclid=IwAR0JWpK7YdSLL8Snf1aFSMJPlVLhjyqH9v8i6Ve4GYvRWQ4G4oZ9lPlcxi8 

Thanks very much for this referrral. It does appear to be too good to be true, but one never knows. 

 

[Stevemercer]

There is a market for 'fit for use' insurance policies. That is, policies that will meet the Thai visa financial requirements, but that have so many exclusions they are almost worthless in real terms.

[Peter Denis]

On 2/10/2021 at 7:59 PM, bish said:

I'm 78 years old and I left Thailand last Sept 2020 to care for my brother in the UK. I'm on a one-year extension to stay based on a retirement visa which expires on June  6th. What insurance do I need to return to Thailand? Does it have to be a Thai Insurance company or can I return on a 90-day travel insurance UK based? ...

Did you buy a Re-Entry Permit prior to exiting Thailand?  If not, the permission to stay (June 6th) you received for you 1-year retirement extension based on your original Non Imm O or O-A Visa will be void.

If you do have such a Re-Entry Permit which protects that June 6th permission to stay, be aware that currently - as part of the CoE requirements for such still valid permission to stay - you would need to subscribe to a 400K/40K in/out-patient coverage insurance.  But problem will be that at your age there are no Thai insurers that provide such IO-approved health-insurance for applicants over +75 years of age.  And it is also virtually impossible to find a foreign/international insurer willing to provide you with such insurance AND sign the mandatory Foreign Insurance Certificate to have that insurance accepted by the Thai Embassy.

So that means, that you can actually forget to make use of your 6th June permission to stay to re-enter Thailand (even when protected by a Re-Entry Permit).

But you do of course have the alternative option of re-entering Thailand VisaExempt or on a 60-day Tourist Visa, which will provide you with a 45 day (VE) or 60 day (TV) permission to stay on entry.

After the 15 days mandatory quarantine, you would then need to apply at your local IO for a 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement.  That needs to be done when you still have at least 15 days left (some IOs require 23 days) on that 45- or 60-day permission to stay.  You would also need to meet the financial requirements at the moment of application, but since you were already on a 1-year permission to stay for reason of retirement based on your original Non Imm O or O-A Visa, that should not be a problem.  And in the last month of those 90-days you would then need to apply for the 1-year permission to stay for reason of retirement based on that new Non Imm O Visa.

When doing the above you would - just like everybody else - currently entering Thailand, need to subscribe to a 100.000 US $ covid-19 treatment insurance, and that insurance needs to cover the full period of your permission to stay (so in your case 60 days of coverage would suffice).

At your age, you are probably confined to subscribe to the covid-19 only insurance provided by TGIA < https://covid19.tgia.org/ > which is age-independent and allows to subscribe to it till 99 years of age.  In your case as UK national the premium for 60-day coverage would be 8.640 THB. 

Edited February 14, 2021 by Peter Denis

[bish]

Hi everyone Thank you all for your Replies I am going to apply  for C,O,E at the end of march  , I have not sorted the insurance out yet , but when i do i will give you an update .

thanks again Bish

[khunPer]

On 2/10/2021 at 7:59 PM, bish said:

I'm on a one-year extension to stay based on a retirement visa which expires on June  6th. What insurance do I need to return to Thailand? Does it have to be a Thai Insurance company or can I return on a 90-day travel insurance UK based? 

You anyway need a Covid-19 insurance equivalent to $100,000. You can buy an officially approved one online HERE, which is the same site where you get approval for a Covid-insurance bought from foreign companies.

 

It depends of what retirement-extension you have; i.e. which visa you entered on. If it's a non-immigrant O-A visa, the so-called retirement visa, you need the mandatory 400k + 40k baht health insurance. A few of the O-A program's officially attending insurance companies will insure up to a relative high age, you can find them HERE.

 

If your extension of stay is based on entry from a Non-Immigrant O visa, there are no official demands for insurance, however both travel insurance, and some level of health insurance during a long stay, are highly recommended.

[Mr Grumpy]

You may wish to consider Staysure insurance. I too am over 75 (or rather, am 75, but Thai companies consider a day over 75 to be 76).  my Staysure coverage is for 12 Months and was far cheaper than any Thai Covid insurance. Coverage is for 90 day trips, which was perfect for my situation. (https://www.staysure.co.uk)

[Peter Denis]

9 hours ago, khunPer said:

...

If your extension of stay is based on entry from a Non-Immigrant O visa, there are no official demands for insurance, however both travel insurance, and some level of health insurance during a long stay, are highly recommended.

When OP returns on a Re-Entry Permit protecting his still valid permission to stay from the 1-year extension based on his original Non Imm O or O-A Visa, it is required - as part of the CoE requirements - to have IO-approved 400K/40K health-insurance (see my post just above yours).

And at his age (78) it will be impossible to subscribe to such IO-approved insurance, hence his only option to return to Thailand is VisaExempt or on 60-day Tourist Visa.

[superal]

20 hours ago, peteralex said:

 

Hi, check out this one, the health insurance premium seems to be VERY reasonable especially for your age, plus a low premium for covid coverage in TH . I found this one advertised at TVF. It appears to be too competitive to be true. Let us know about your inquiries.

https://en.samui.consulting/insurance?utm_source=Santa&fbclid=IwAR0JWpK7YdSLL8Snf1aFSMJPlVLhjyqH9v8i6Ve4GYvRWQ4G4oZ9lPlcxi8 

Did you get a quote , if so what are the premiums ?  secondly when i looked at the application form they want your passport number , why is that ?

[khunPer]

6 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

When OP returns on a Re-Entry Permit protecting his still valid permission to stay from the 1-year extension based on his original Non Imm O or O-A Visa, it is required - as part of the CoE requirements - to have IO-approved 400K/40K health-insurance (see my post just above yours).

Are you sure that 400k+40k insurance is a requirement for a non-O re-entry? Insurance is not mentioned to be required for a non-O entry, according to other visa-posts that directly says it's not required, only for O-A.

6 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

And at his age (78) it will be impossible to subscribe to such IO-approved insurance, hence his only option to return to Thailand is VisaExempt or on 60-day Tourist Visa.

Some of the insurance companies might insure up to 80 years, at least The Navakij Insurance Public Company Limited will for O-A visa.

[Peter Denis]

59 minutes ago, khunPer said:

1 - Are you sure that 400k+40k insurance is a requirement for a non-O re-entry? Insurance is not mentioned to be required for a non-O entry, according to other visa-posts that directly says it's not required, only for O-A.

2 - Some of the insurance companies might insure up to 80 years, at least The Na  nvakij Insurance Public Company Limited will for O-A visa.

1 - Yes I am absolutely sure that currently - as part of the CoE requirements - the 400k/40K health-insurance policy is not only required for a Non Imm O-A Visa or the STV, but also when wanting to re-enter on a Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement (or when wanting to return on the still valid permission to stay - protected by a Re-Entry Permit based on your 1-your retirement extension of stay based on your original Non Imm O Visa).  The requirement that it is now also mandatory for Non Imm O Visa entries for reason of retirement, is often 'hidden' in the Embassy CoE requirements.

2 - Yes indeed, it seems that that company does indeed now offer also offer a Thai IO-approved Non Imm O-A Visa policy for age up to 80 years.  However, the annual premium for that insurance is 81.000 THB!   Knowing that the LMG Insurance Plan-1 policy (with 200K deductible) only sells for an annual premium of 6.000 to 11.400 THB in the age-brackets of 51 to 75 years, the difference in annual premium is huge.  So, exiting Thailand (once border restrictions are eased) and returning VisaExempt will allow applying for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement and subsequent 1-year extension of that Visa.  Doing so you would have effectively dumped that 400K/40K health-insurance requirement.

[Mike Teavee]

32 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

1 - Yes I am absolutely sure that currently - as part of the CoE requirements - the 400k/40K health-insurance policy is not only required for a Non Imm O-A Visa or the STV, but also when wanting to re-enter on a Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement (or when wanting to return on the still valid permission to stay - protected by a Re-Entry Permit based on your 1-your retirement extension of stay based on your original Non Imm O Visa).  The requirement that it is now also mandatory for Non Imm O Visa entries for reason of retirement, is often 'hidden' in the Embassy CoE requirements.

Damn, I thought the insurance was only required if you were applying for a Non-Imm O (Retirement) at your embassy NOT if you were returning on an existing one (protected by a re-entry permit) but checking the London Thai Embassy... 

https://london.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/requirements-for-foreigners-travelling-to-thailand-during-covid-19-tra?page=5d6636cd15e39c3bd00072dd&menu=5f4b6eb3f6ae4b236972c562

 

7. For long-stay retirement visa holders (Non-Immigrant O/O-A/O-X) for people over 50 years old

- Copy of health insurance policy which covers medical treatment in Thailand (non-COVID-19 diseases) for outpatient not less than 40,000 Baht and inpatient not less than 400,000 Baht for the whole period of your stay in Thailand

- Copy of health insurance that coversCOVID-19 related medical expenses, both inpatient and outpatient, no less than 100,000 USD for the whole period of your stay in Thailand

 

 

Fortunately I got the "Visa Friendly" Policy from Pacific Cross (https://www.pacificcrosshealth.com/en/visa-friendly/) so whilst I didn't bother with the outpatients as I didn't think I needed it, I can always add it on for when I take a trip out of Thailand 

 

[travelerjim]

18 hours ago, bish said:

Hi everyone Thank you all for your Replies I am going to apply  for C,O,E at the end of march  , I have not sorted the insurance out yet , but when i do i will give you an update .

thanks again Bish

Enter visa exempt

Get the Thai Covid Only policy

nothing else needed.

Then get new NonO Extension of Stay as retired after completing ASQ quarantine   

 

http://covid19.tgia.org/?fbclid=IwAR32pxkOrTuy5TArIqUqHO0mF0U6CfASKABNA-l-181UjQSxm3t_93wUe1k