CORIS health insurance.

[napoleon3]

I have been interested in health insurance offered by CORIS insurance for quite some time.

On this forum (27 Nov 2020) and on many other media I have read a considerable number of comments which usually warn that this is not a health insurance policy, but a travel insurance.

From contact with the branch in Koh Samui, this appears to be no objection and this insurance is indeed a health insurance with the exception of chronic conditions.

I would like to ask the members of this forum if there are any persons permanent living in Thailand who have taken out this insurance and have already taken advantage of it.

So I am looking for personal experiences, good or bad, and not opinions where I have already read hundreds of them.

My sincere thanks and good health to all.

[jackdd]

After looking at their terms and conditions: Definitely travel insurance.

They will only pay for treatment if your life is at risk and if possible they will fly you back home to be treated there (Travel insurance, so they don't pay for your treatment back home)

You break your leg and they estimate this will cost 100k to fix it? There is a good chance that they will tell you that they pay for your ticket back home and some pain killers.

You got kidney stones, cancer or similar? Not an emergency, they won't pay for it.

Edited March 26, 2021 by jackdd

[CharlieH]

MOVED to Insurance forum

[Matt AA]

I work at AA Insurance Brokers and we offer CORIS also. That is when it comes available again as CORIS has a temporary stop on new clients for the annual policies.
CORIS does not have a branch on Koh Samui. The Koh Samui office is a broker just like AA, they only opted to present themselves as being CORIS. 

The plan of CORIS is really a travel insurance. 
I now quote form the information we send to potential clients:
 

There is no Medical Questionnaire as a part of the application so Coris will investigate the medical history in case of doubts.

• Any pre-existing conditions and/or medical conditions like diabetes, heart conditions, high blood pressure etc. will be excluded from coverage unless it will be classified as “Acute deterioration of chronic illnesses”.
• The Coris plans are more a travel insurance then a Health Insurance. Among other things this means no automatic renewal. Renewal can be refused when the policy year ends.
• There is NO coverage for COVID-19.
• The Insurance policy will enter into force 8 days after Coris receives the payment.
• There is NO coverage in your Country of Origin.
• When applying over the age of 75, the Premium will increase with 50 %, when older than 85 it will be double (100 % extra).  

As mentioned above this is not a regular Health Insurance. To avoid all misunderstandings some more explanation about the coverage:
If you are sick or got injured you have to see a doctor so that is urgent. Coris covers a doctor visit, medicines, operation, hospitalization, follow up etc.
However, after you had an urgent medical treatment and the doctor afterwards says it might be good for you to take additional tests or physiotherapies or something similar, this follow up will no longer be covered. If Coris does not know what is wrong with you, Coris will not pay for any “research” of what so ever.
Another very important thing: If you have a major injury or severe disease, Coris will only cover medical costs until you are fit enough to be transported to your homeland. In case somebody lives in Thailand it will make no sense for him to return to for example Russia (as he has no health insurance and no residence there anymore) – at that moment the coverage by Coris stops.

With this regards we specifically want to use this quote from Coris:

“What I want is to be very clear to all your clients that pre-existing medical conditions are not covered and that we only cover urgent medical issues. If someone gets seriously ill we are not going to pay for a long term treatment but instead such person is taken to his homeland. If the client doesn’t want that, the coverage stops at that point.”

A real health insurance is of course much better as it will also cover for not urgent medical issues. Having said that, a real Health Insurance has a price, especially when getting older, so the CORIS option is still a good one for everybody that does not have the means to go for a real health insurance. As long as you keep in mind it has its limitations.