Is this the end of Thailand as a Retirement Destination

[NanaSomchai]

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

Ah, yes the old adage that CASH IS KING, well, actually, I would take that to say until you have no more, hence the reason people hedge their bets and take out health insurance, i.e. so that there CASH is still there, e.g. insurance is protection, some pay to reduce the risk of their CASH being reduced by 2-5 million baht or being wiped out, so CASH IS KING until you have no more.

 

So what happens if tomorrow you have an emergency and the procedure is going to cost you 2-3 million baht, CASH IS KING, or the Thai government says you now have to have health insurance in the sum of 2 million baht in your Thai savings account each and every time you renew your extension, you being in the blue book and all.

 

The above said what about once you turn 60 and your chances of getting insured are slim, that and no doubt you would, it appears from your numerous visits would have pre-existing conditions.

 

Ah, yes the old saying is CASH IS KING, actually not when it comes to insuring yourself against the unexpected, in my opinion of course where my CASH IS KING because I protect against it being reduced from an out of nowhere unexpected event, that said, recently saw two guys I know in their early 60's, one uninsured, about 750k baht from his CASH IS KING account, the other 2.6 million compliments from his insurance debit card which was topped up by his insurer, yep CASH IS KING for him still, not so much for the other chap.  

 

Each to their own as the saying goes, I insure just so I don't have to go to hospital, that is the purpose of insuring, I don't want to hold onto the annual premium amount vs paying for an emergency procedure out of my CASH IS KING account, but then again, it all boils down to how much you have in your CASH IS KING account, don't get me wrong, I would rather hang on to the outlay, but with no protection, you are left wide open in a foreign country, make of that what you will.

TL;DR. I give you a 2/10 for the effort. Keep it up!

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

So what happens if tomorrow you have an emergency and the procedure is going to cost you 2-3 million baht, CASH IS KING, or the Thai government says you now have to have health insurance in the sum of 2 million baht in your Thai savings account each and every time you renew your extension, you being in the blue book and all.

Please name the emergency procedure that will cost 2-3MBht?

 

A pal of mine had the most expensive (broken hip after toppling off his m/c in the drive) procedure, paid for by his government M/s insurance, then he paid another 25Kbht for a month in a care home while he was in plaster.

[Orinoco]

2 hours ago, blackprince said:

Let's look at it another way, would you really want a horde of impoverished foreign retirees in England? I suspect not.

Your out of date mate.

They come way before retirement, via Rubber dinghy

or the back of a Truck,  now days.

England the free, 

Free, money, food, clothes, home, car, I phone charging

[scorecard]

22 hours ago, PoodThaiMaiDai said:

I agree with some of what you said, but you think an expat should be allowed to live here on 300-400 baht a day?

 

That seems ridiculous if you ask me.

 

An expat should be able to live a comfortable, moderate life, not a life of poverty.

 

There is a reason there are so many jumpers here in Pattaya.

A lot of expats run out of money or their income streams do not keep pace with inflation.

You're missing some points: 1). If you can't afford to live abroad, don't move abroad. 2). Many guys who come to LOS to retire don't control their spending, in fact they spend, daily, double or triple or more than they can afford per day. 3). 'Entertainments' cost money, if you can't afford it find other ways to spend your time, lot's of things to explore everywhere in LOS.

 

[scorecard]

21 minutes ago, Jeffr2 said:

Years ago, when in a girlfriends village, the local guys were about to go after me.  <deleted> I was with her as she use to date one of them.  The old ladies went after them and chased them off.  It was kinda scary.  But saved by the old ladies. LOL.  They like you as long as your buying the booze. LOL

What you describe is life, anywhere.

[Orinoco]

16 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Please name the emergency procedure that will cost 2-3MBht?

Brain Surgery, This can easy top 3 mill,  as they don't get to perform that type of surgery very often in Thailand, there's no real call for it.

[robblok]

47 minutes ago, kennw said:

Most Thai insurance companies now have an age limit above which they will not sell you health insurance. Those that do are in the region of US$12,000 per year. Many have adequate funds to self insure, But then you cant travel because you cannot buy the US$50,000 Thai Pass cover The insurance companies will not sell it to you because you live here.  

Actually i seen many cheaper and the thing is you need to get in before a certain age and keep paying then they can't kick you out. There are even some Thai insurers that do it too. I would say if you can self insure then they need to allow you to put 50$ in a Thai bank to show you can pay. I mean that would satisfy the self insured people. 

[Harveyboy]

20 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

Exactly Harvey, I wake up each morning, it is a good day, and the glass is always half full........(but not for long.....)

i must have the same glass ha

[Harveyboy]

18 minutes ago, Orinoco said:

Your out of date mate.

They come way before retirement, via Rubber dinghy

or the back of a Truck,  now days.

England the free, 

Free, money, food, clothes, home, car, I phone charging

spot on mate

[bkk6060]

23 hours ago, Robin said:

So effectively, if you want to retire to Thailand and still travel during the time here, the cost of a Retirement visa has increased by 90,000baht, and now I see rumours that the RV is going to need 2,000,000 in the Bank.

False and unverified rumors.

Seems like just another person from the UK complaining about the rules and cost of living here.

Has anyone recently checked the cost of living in the UK and the recent inflation numbers there?

Thailand is still a very inexpensive place to live seems like lack of economic sense or maybe just typical complaining.

Edited November 11, 2021 by bkk6060

[4MyEgo]

25 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Please name the emergency procedure that will cost 2-3MBht?

I am sure that there are many scenario's out there, public vs private, here is one example from a private hospital some years back, naturally it would be cheaper in a public hospital if your comfortable with who is treating you or whether they can treat you in a public hospital if you required specialised care in a private hospital, also remembering, if no have money, and no have insurance means, no treatment unless you get a GoFundme page happening and we all know about those.

 

https://www.thephuketnews.com/brit-tourist-in-phuket-taxi-accident-rescued-from-b1-5mn-medical-bills-67073.php

 

Below is also an advert from pacific prime, if you scroll down to the second costings graph and look at the motorcycle accident range in USD, at the moment the USD is giving you about 33 baht to the $, so that range could be from 200,000 baht to 2 million baht, naturally that would depend on how bad the accident is and if any ongoing rehabilitation is required adding to the costs which could blow it out to 3 million baht if further surgeries are required after the accident. That doesn't only need to be a motorcycle accident, it could also be a motor vehicle accident, the longer the stay in hospital to recover, the higher the bill is going to be, noting that no insurance, means no repatriation to your home country as well if you wanted that option, because if you did decide to take that option in that state of condition, it would cost you a motsa.

 

https://www.pacificprime.co.th/blog/the-cost-of-medical-treatments-in-thailand/

 

Why did this Covid insurance come about ?

 

https://www.thaiembassy.com/travel-to-thailand/covid-19-insurance-for-thailand

[Harveyboy]

22 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Why not, I generally spent under 500bht/day, and that's because I have nothing more I want to buy.

That's double what most of the Thai population have to spend.

Even worse if they're Thai pensioners on 600bht/month.

yes i think 500 a day for general living ..for a single person excluding accommodation.. bills ect ..wish i could go back to 500 a day !!  Wife and 2 kids sorted that out ha ... enjoy life ..

[4MyEgo]

45 minutes ago, NanaSomchai said:

TL;DR. I give you a 2/10 for the effort. Keep it up!

[antony77]

23 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

like me, you are obviously not a multi-multi millionaire, so they do not want us here. the only imagination this corrupt pile of buffoons' has is the imagination of living their lives in opulence while the plebs slave away. Like yourself, I made this Country my retirement home with my Family. All I can do now is make the best of a bad job, but always have the option to move to a nearby country if things get seriously out of control.

Nothing has changed in the last 20 years retirement Visa.  still 800,000 baht in the bank very much less than it was 20 years ago. And there are thousands of retirees needing to only have 400,000 in the bank since they apply prior to 2000. These amounts are grandfathered and will not be changed. If they had wanted to change it they would have done so years ago.  So all those thousands of retirees who have made Thailand their home have have no problems at all and will have no problems in the future. The only possibility is that they will raise the amount required for retirement Visa but that will only be for new applicants. In your case you are in a la minority having problems to visit another country. But that's due to the pandemic not Thai immigration. Most of us are quite happy to stay here is plenty to do and see in Thailand.

[AhFarangJa]

53 minutes ago, Orinoco said:

Your out of date mate.

They come way before retirement, via Rubber dinghy

or the back of a Truck,  now days.

England the free, 

Free, money, food, clothes, home, car, I phone charging

Spot on mate, and the bleeding hearts want to open up more for them. one reason I guess that I am not there paying taxes to support them.

[malibukid]

3 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

With respect, I hear your points, however for anyone thinking about retiring anywhere in the world, the first thing they have to ask themselves before they depart their homeland is, will I be able to get health insurance, and for those that don't want to get insured, or cannot get insured because of age, do they have enough funds to put away to self insure, now that is one side of the coin, it has nothing to do with they don't want us here.

 

I don't believe the Thai government is trying to get rid of retirees, I think that the times have caught up with those who are uninsured getting caught up with the past without these requirements being needed when re-entering the country, as the Thai government are now looking at better ways to protect themselves, e.g. perhaps they have seen a few retirees/tourists/expats end up in hospitals and not pay their the bill/s, shortly thereafter flying out, hence the reason they ask for payment up front, it's not a charity. I am guess they are wanting to close up the loopholes that have ended up costing their tax payers money from those that can't pay their bill/s.

 

The above said, thank your lucky stars that they haven't said that is now a requirement for all farangs renewing their extensions to get insurance as part of the requirement, it is only for those entering, or re-entering, so I believe they have taken this into consideration as opposed to going on the attack, which most farangs have done with the new requirements, calling a spade a spade.

 

It was reported in December 2019 that the Australia government had to pay out $84 million for unpaid hospital bills racked up by tourists who got treated and didn't pay their bills, I would think that is unfair and a waste of tax payers money personally, and would think you too would find this unacceptable if you lived in your home country ?

 

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/it-s-not-fair-tourists-leave-taxpayers-with-20m-hospital-bill-20191128-p53ey8.html

 

I know one thing for sure, a lot of people blame others for their own not well planned retirements, fact of the matter is, you have to ask yourself, if you were running this country or any country, would you want people entering/living in your country with those people being uninsured, personally I would devise a plan that those able enough to be insured, be insured, a prerequisite on entering the country for tourists would be to have travel insurance at a minimum and retirees health insurance at a minimum, even if it meant having some insurance agents at the airport to handle the paperwork for those entering without insurance, although it would be on the airlines to check first, like now with passengers in the pandemic boarding their flights.

 

I don't see a problem with what they are doing, however there should be some grandfathering.

 

This I see it as them tidying up their back yards and for those who cannot get insurance, naturally they would have to show an amount in the bank, like when applying for their extensions to satisfy immigration that they have the amount to cover a hospital emergency, e.g. 1 million or 2 million baht on top of the 800,000 baht for the extension.

 

The above said, if people cannot have that kind of spare funds to park in the banks without needing it, then they simply cannot afford to retire anywhere in the world and is best that they stay in their home countries to have free health insurance. 

 

For those that think that they are entitled, think again, you are not in your country so don't cry fowl, it is what is it and without thinking outside the square and depending on other government to look after us is just like expecting our own governments to look after us when we become expats, fact of the matter is, we become the unwanted, so best to fend for yourself I say.

 

To confirm, I am not having a dig at those who don't have insurance, governments will always move the goal posts, that is what governments do, whether it be for them to make more money or close up loopholes, it is just the way it is, so watch out for the bulldozer coming your way every ow and again, it's called progress and they don't give a rats a$$ who get in the way.

 

@Robin

 

 

well can you imagine just how much the Aussie government saved on that one deal compared to what it would have forked out in their own country

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

53 minutes ago, scorecard said:

What you describe is life, anywhere.

huge basic gf strategy error though….. NEVER go to the gf village…… skeletons in closet of course

[Orinoco]

42 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Has anyone recently checked the cost of living in the UK and the recent inflation numbers there?

Thailand is still a very inexpensive place to live seems like lack of economic sense or maybe just typical complaining.

If you own your own home, out right in the uk

Thailand not that different with cost per year.

[BritManToo]

3 minutes ago, Orinoco said:

If you own your own home, out right in the uk

Thailand not that different with cost per year.

Great if you've got a spare half million pounds.

[Robin]

As OP, it is aa bi late to qualify my posing, but I m well capable of paying the insurance now required  for me to visit my home country,  but I really do not want to.  So for now, I am staying in Thailand and waiting to see what comes of this.

 If the bank deposit for Retirement vis goes up to 2 MIll. then I can cope with this, but I would rather have my money earning some interest , not sitting in a Thai bank at 1%

yesterday i saw  some information that Gov.is now thinking of offering a 1 year visa, but after reading the qualifications needed to get this, I do not see a rush of applicants.  More like another Gov. official dreaming of the hordes of people who are clamoring to live in Thailand.  Only interested persons i could think of would be rich criminals wanting a base for their activities where the local plod will not bother them.  Is this who Thailand nw want;-  A country run by criminals for the benefit of criminals?

 

Somebody suggested coming in on a non-visa entry and then extending .  how long for?  another month?  Then what? Overstay?

I 

[Burma Bill]

On 11/10/2021 at 12:09 PM, robblok said:

I seriously don't understand why people would want to live here without insurance

With due respect, I did for 20 years but only when it came to medical/health insurance being an insulin dependent Type 2 diabetic. No problems for car, personal accident and house contents.

[Nickelbeer]

As soon as all restrictions are lifted, I will be relocating to the Philippines. I'm tired of "whim of management" determining my living arrangements. I want to pay a flat fee and have the  government out of my life. Jealousy and racial hatred are driving the broken-down old automobile, known as Thailand.

[4MyEgo]

That figure is about 2.5% of the total outlay for the Australian government, or 33.4 billion dollars of tax payers money.

 

You cannot compare the loss of $84,000,000 to what Australians are entitled too, the tourists ripped off Australian simple and the Thai's or anyone else for that matter shouldn't have to cop it either.

[arithai12]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Please name the emergency procedure that will cost 2-3MBht?

 

A pal of mine had the most expensive (broken hip after toppling off his m/c in the drive) procedure, paid for by his government M/s insurance, then he paid another 25Kbht for a month in a care home while he was in plaster.

I had one for 1.8M last year, I had a good insurance and didn't pay one Baht from my pocket. There are also people who need life-long treatments, and that adds up.

 

The fact that you are healthy and an optmist doesn't save you from the proverbial God's banana skin.

 

[shackleton]

23 hours ago, Harveyboy said:

yep same here retired here got my family and commitments burned my bridge's when i left Europe for a better life and better climate im here for the long haul but it's not the same place i came to that's for definite..just make the best of it and look for the positive things eh..

Totally agree life still goes on no matter what the Government throw at us 

Stay positive 

[JustAnotherHun]

3 hours ago, Peterphuket said:

Well, I think your homecountry will do that for long time, with that woman Mrs.Merkel, or I'm wrong?

Sadly you're right. But that does not mean I like it ????

But we don't talk of "asylum" demanders, so:

Would you like your country to welcome each retiree who meets GB's minimum income? 

[BritManToo]

6 minutes ago, arithai12 said:

I had one for 1.8M last year, I had a good insurance and didn't pay one Baht from my pocket. There are also people who need life-long treatments, and that adds up.

 

The fact that you are healthy and an optmist doesn't save you from the proverbial God's banana skin.

 

I'm not particularly healthy,

I just get tired of people with insurance boasting about mainly unnecessary treatments at expensive private hospitals as if it's the only option in the world. The insurance companies are usually charged 15-20x the real cost of the treatments, and most people could live happily with no treatment at all. Even the government hospitals will offer unneeded treatments if you're daft enough to take them.

 

I'm betting your 1M8bht (whatever) could have been had at 100kbht in a government hospital, or possibly not needed at all.

Edited November 11, 2021 by BritManToo

[wwest5829]

20 hours ago, simon43 said:

[quote]

 When you reach that magical "use by" date set by insurance companys, and your of absolutley no value to them, and your policy is cancelled,  come and tell us about it, wont you, and join the  compulsory self insured brigade.

[/quote]

 

Huh, if you chose the right insurance policy in the first place, then the company legally can't cancel your policy, nor increase your premiums individually if you've claimed before.  They are stuck with you for life.....

Well, perhaps stuck with as long as you can afford the rising premiums?

[Orinoco]

39 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Great if you've got a spare half million pounds.

Whats the average house price in the uk ?

[sangtip2]

On 11/10/2021 at 12:09 PM, robblok said:

It certainly will become more expensive, but only for those who had no insurance in the first place.

 

For those of us that factored it in their retirement it wont matter much. I seriously don't understand why people would want to live here without insurance (unless high savings but then they would not complain about the insurance as they have money or could deposit it maybe)

 

 

How sure are you that your insurance will pay ?    Maybe you pay for insurance and then still have to pay your medical bill.