Phuket hotels desperate as "insured" foreign tourists with Covid denied coverage, refuse to go to hospital - "Hospitel" shortage admitted

[webfact]

Picture: Manager

 

Manager reported from Phuket saying there was a severe crisis among increasing numbers of foreigners on the holiday island testing positive for Covid-19 at the start of their stay. 

 

Their sources indicated - following similar suggestions on social media - that an increasing number of asymptomatic foreigners were testing positive for Covid on day one.

 

These are the so called "Green Cases".

 

Hotels want them off the premises and sent to hospitals but the insurance companies are refusing to honor policies saying they have to pay for hospitals.

 

The foreigners are pointing out that they are insured and won't pay for hospitalization.

 

This, said the source, meant that a large number of foreign tourists are refusing to budge at hotels.

 

This could mean, despite protocols being in place, that staff get infected and hotels are forced to shut down.

 

He called on immediate government action to address the growing crisis in Phuket.

 

Meanwhile Dr Kusak Kukiatkul of the Phuket health authority confirmed that the "Green Cases" didn't want to go to hospitals as they came from countries where asymptomatic cases could just quarantine at home. 

 

And he admitted that there were simply not enough places in so called "hospitels" to accommodate them.

 

He accepted that insurance companies were not covering these eventualities when it came to hospital coverage for green cases and foreigners didn't want to pay insisting they were covered. 

 

So they were just staying in the hotels.

 

Dr Kusak said there were negotiations underway to help with the situation. 

 

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[Gsxrnz]

The peasants tourists are revolting.

[RandiRona]

Let me see under what category I would file this in..mmmm... Insurance fraud committed by Insurance companies. Other categories under which it could go ...Bait and Switch

...Dumb Falangs

...Doomed Tourism.

[Bkk Brian]

What a frigging self made mess. If insurance companies don't pay for Green cases then the insurance is useless and that should have been identified before regulations for sandbox or test and go were ever implemented.

[ozfarang]

The question is why, is the USD50.000 compulsory insurance coverage required to enter Thailand.

Seems like a money grab by the insurance companies in collaboration with the Thai government. Just another way to fleece the unsuspecting tourist, who would have thought.......?

[Willy Wombat]

Good on the tourists 

[2long]

All above posters are spot on, as I'm sure many below will be.

No one wants to be forced to buy insurance, but insurance that doesn't cover what it's designed to cover is ridiculous!

This mob really have no idea!

[Chris.B]

So much for having trust in insurers! Best to self insure.

 

[ThailandRyan]

34 minutes ago, webfact said:

Hotels want them off the premises and sent to hospitals but the insurance companies are refusing to honor policies saying they have to pay for hospitals.

 

The foreigners are pointing out that they are insured and won't pay for hospitalization.

How can they have been admitted to the country and passed the insurance screening process if the insurance becomes invalid if only asymptomatic.  Oh wait that is right most insurances will not pay for non-treatment.

[richard_smith237]

It is obvious that those who test positive need to isolate, even when asymptomatic.

 

The obvious solution is that the ‘green cases’ isolate at their SHA Plus+ hotel as they would in any ASQ hotel. 

 

They’re not going to like it, but thats the nature of the beast which is travel in current times. 

 

Owners are not going to like it - but they wanted to take incoming tourists and secured the SHA Plus + for a reason, they have to take the smooth with the rough. 

 

There is no need to be sent to hospital unless symptomatic, in which case the government forces insurance to cover the hospitalisation. 

 

 

It has become clear that International Insurance providers need to be relied upon for such issues. 

 

 

It needs to be made clear to avoid any Thai Insurance company.

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

7 minutes ago, Chris.B said:

So much for having trust in insurers! Best to self insure.

Good luck securing a Thai Pass with your ’self insure’ certification. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[smedly]

2 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

How can they have been admitted to the country and passed the insurance screening process if the insurance becomes invalid if only asymptomatic.  Oh wait that is right most insurances will not pay for non-treatment.

and that is the problem right there, health insurance covers people who are sick not people who are forced into an expensive stay in hospital that is not required - I can see the why insurance companies are refusing to pay, if local authorities and government want to force these non sick people into hospital or a dedicated quarantine facility then they should be paying for it or should have provided insurance that covered this - simple 

 

This has been going on for months and is clearly a money grab 

[robblok]

2 minutes ago, smedly said:

and that is the problem right there, health insurance covers people who are sick not people who are forced into an expensive stay in hospital that is not required - I can see the why insurance companies are refusing to pay, if local authorities and government want to force these non sick people into hospital or a dedicated quarantine facility then they should be paying for it or should have provided insurance that covered this - simple 

 

This has been going on for months and is clearly a money grab 

Partly agree, people should be quarantined. If its a Sha+ hotel then they should quarantine them. Otherwise quarantine in other hotels (should be covered). But you cannot not quarantine people. 

 

This is something they should have thought of before. But that is what Thais do make rules and later see that they dont match reality and not take responsibility. 

[JustAnotherHun]

And again: The rules to enter Thailand are clear. Tested positive, evcen asymptomatic = hospital.

Also clear: most insurances do not pay for a non-treatment at a hospital.

Everybody's planing to come to Thailand should be aware of that.

[samtam]

1 minute ago, JustAnotherHun said:

And again: The rules to enter Thailand are clear. Tested positive, evcen asymptomatic = hospital.

Also clear: most insurances do not pay for a non-treatment at a hospital.

Everybody's planing to come to Thailand should be aware of that.

Or to put it another way, anybody planning to come to Thailand should not.

[ezzra]

Which bring me to my earlier post from few days back, why on earth would anyone want to travel anywhere now where most places on earth are a bed Covid/Delta/Omicron infestations and no matter what vaccines you got or how many?... but there's no shortage of clueless, ignorant people who thinks that they're above danger...

[samtam]

Also, can anybody please tell me why an arrival who tests positive goes into hospital for 10 days, whilst his spouse (who tested negative, but was sitting next to him), has to quarantine in an hotel for 14 days? Does the USD50k per person cover both the hospital stay, and the 14 day quarantine at a SHA+ hotel?

[MrJ2U]

In the long run this is going to be more expensive to the Thailand as a whole.

 

Completely close the borders until you get a grip on this.

 

Despite all the rhetoric of how many people have been dubiously vaccinated.  

 

Theres eventually not going to be enough hospital beds again despite symptoms being milder.

[MrJ2U]

Just now, samtam said:

Also, can anybody please tell me why an arrival who tests positive goes into hospital for 10 days, whilst his spouse (who tested negative, but was sitting next to him), has to quarantine in an hotel for 14 days? Does the USD50k per person cover both the hospital stay, and the 14 day quarantine at a SHA+ hotel?

Probably not.

 

Another Thai moneypit.

[samtam]

Just now, MrJ2U said:

In the long run this is going to be more expensive to the Thailand as a whole.

 

Completely close the borders until you get a grip on this.

 

Despite all the rhetoric of how many people have been dubiously vaccinated.  

 

Theres eventually not going to be enough hospital beds again despite symptoms being milder.

....and very very soon. Give it 2-3 weeks.

[RichardColeman]

I'm confused. A lot of the policies I see - and would use if I could get there - would be one covering asymptomatic cases as well as the 50,000 USD coverage. Is this not a case of people buying unsuitable insurance to get in  rather than one covering what they need to cover asymptomatic issues ? 

[JustAnotherHun]

5 minutes ago, samtam said:

Or to put it another way, anybody planning to come to Thailand should not.

That might be the consequence.

When I came back in November, I knew about the risks. It was ok for me because I wanted to see my son after 18 month.

As a short time tourist I would not come.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

i can guess the coming solutions - visitors must buy a special insurance that cover asymptomatic hospitalization. the solution is allways in the way that makes the tourist pay more. but the real outcome is that a growing number of tourists stop seeing thailand as their next destination and forget about it.  thailand lose big time.

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

He called on immediate government action to address the growing crisis in Phuket.

Close the borders, cancel all flights.

Easy!

[BritManToo]

14 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Which bring me to my earlier post from few days back, why on earth would anyone want to travel anywhere now where most places on earth are a bed Covid/Delta/Omicron infestations and no matter what vaccines you got or how many?... but there's no shortage of clueless, ignorant people who thinks that they're above danger...

Probably for the same reason people wanted to travel in cold and flu season.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

9 minutes ago, samtam said:

Also, can anybody please tell me why an arrival who tests positive goes into hospital for 10 days, whilst his spouse (who tested negative, but was sitting next to him), has to quarantine in an hotel for 14 days? Does the USD50k per person cover both the hospital stay, and the 14 day quarantine at a SHA+ hotel?

hysteric reaction of thai authorities who keep on complicating simple things. Asympotomatics need to quarantine at a special hotel, not hospital. hospital is only for sick people. this is the simple and obvious solution.  will the thai government ever get it? of course not/

[ohno]

22 minutes ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

i can guess the coming solutions - visitors must buy a special insurance that cover asymptomatic hospitalization. the solution is allways in the way that makes the tourist pay more. but the real outcome is that a growing number of tourists stop seeing thailand as their next destination and forget about it.  thailand lose big time.

 

Insurance covering asymptomatic hospitalization has been available for some time. You would hope that these policies would be paying out as promised ...

 

This site shows prices for symptomatic and non-symptomatic cover for different ages and timeframes, quite useful. All policies listed are Thai:

 

 

https://asq.in.th/thailand-entry-requirements

 

The reasons given for asymptomatic tourists being "denied coverage" isn't clear, but as you can see from the above, 2 of the 5 policies specifically do not include it, including the cheapest one.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

42 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

It has become clear that International Insurance providers need to be relied upon for such issues. 

 

 

It needs to be made clear to avoid any Thai Insurance company.

 

 

 

Most foreign insurers don't cover hospital expenses when they are not medically necessary, but I think that some of the products offered by Thai insurers for inbound travelers do

[sammieuk1]

A symptomatic case of rinsing the farang ???? 

[PremiumLane]

Ah, the good old private healthcare insurance companies at it again. We need to get rid of these parasites