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

[tgw]

Quote

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.

unacceptable.

setup fast court hearings where the court preemptively seizes the required funds from the companies to pay for the insured persons.

[ikke1959]

As I wrote before.. If you are sick you go to the hospital and not sick don't need to go... But Thailand and the TAT have to find quarantine locations/hotels for the Green cases, so that the infected people can go in that area instead of non sick in a hospital bed... Again I know it is not comparing for an transmittable disease, but with a cut finger  I don't go to he hospital too/.

Or close the borders again...than maybe easier to handle

Edited January 4, 2022 by ikke1959

[Nino3]

57 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 

Correct!. Medically necessary is the policy wording. If not medically necessary then no, the insurer will not pay. The AXA policy does cover green cases but only medical treatment, hospital stay but not sure of a Hospitel stay. With that said, anyone holding the AXA policy may beg to be sent to the hospital and not hospitel. 

 

So the persons approving Thai Pass applications as well as the folks reviewing documents upon landing have no clue as to what they are looking at or looking for. 

 

The government wants to charge an entrance fee of what, 500, 600 baht. Why not also sell the insurance policy that covers green cases and all associated costs. Buy online within the Thai Pass or whatever process. There's the money maker.

[HashBrownHarry]

1 hour ago, RandiRona said:

Dumb Falangs

Why are they dumb? Do you just get walked over all the time? Why should n't they stand up for themselves?

 

This is exactly what's needed to help highlight some of the issues at moment.

[HashBrownHarry]

1 hour ago, Chris.B said:

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

 

Another expert that obviously has not travelled recently and has no idea of the current entry requirements.

[HashBrownHarry]

Many more cases like this and it won't be long until the Sandpit option is also shut down and it'll be back to 14 days quarantine for all arrivals.

[BritManToo]

59 minutes ago, ohno said:

 

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.

I don't see 'cover for sitting near someone that tests positive' on that list.

[Gsxrnz]

Somebody should explain Chaos Theory and The Butterfly Effect to the Thai government, and that both theories are warnings, not instruction manuals.

 

Chaos theory is an interdisciplinary scientific theory and branch of mathematics focused on underlying patterns and deterministic laws highly sensitive to initial conditions in dynamical systems that were thought to have completely random states of disorder and irregularities. Chaos theory states that within the apparent randomness of chaotic complex systems, there are underlying patterns, interconnectedness, constant feedback loops, repetition, self-similarity, fractals, and self-organization.

 

The butterfly effect, an underlying principle of chaos, describes how a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state (meaning that there is sensitive dependence on initial conditions). A metaphor for this behavior is that a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil can cause a tornado in Texas.

 

Thailand can certainly be described as a deterministic nonlinear system - I think? 

[Jim P]

They took the risk by not getting fully insured for the all possibilities and lost now they should stop selfishly putting others at risk and go to the hospital.

[samtam]

1 hour ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

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/

...at a cost of about THB200-300K for the 10 days, depending on which one. This is the Thai Government policy for foreigners living in Thailand at the moment, and the insurance I have doesn't have "special quarantine hotel".

[zzzzz]

2 hours 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 

if they start putting NON sick people in hospitals just cause they test positive ( so that the insurance Has to pay put)  means when someone really needs be put in the hospital  there will be no room
thats F#@ked

 

[Jingthing]

2 hours 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.

And not come.

[Jingthing]

4 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

if they start putting NON sick people in hospitals just cause they test positive ( so that the insurance Has to pay put)  means when someone really needs be put in the hospital  there will be no room
thats F#@ked

 

Start? 

[Jingthing]

58 minutes ago, Jim P said:

They took the risk by not getting fully insured for the all possibilities and lost now they should stop selfishly putting others at risk and go to the hospital.

Are you having a laugh?

[ThailandRyan]

2 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Start? 

Yes, he has kind of missed the boat on past practice here hasn't he..  

[Bkk Brian]

1 minute ago, ThailandRyan said:

Yes, he has kind of missed the boat on past practice here hasn't he..  

Another one just announced..................

 

Separated by COVID: Family holiday for New Year comes undone after son, 17, tests positive in Phuket

 

PHUKET: A family holiday to Phuket has left a 17-year-old trapped in a hotel room for five days waiting for confirmation on whether or not he is a ‘Green’ COVID patient and allowed to move to a room next door to his father and brother at a ‘quarantine hotel’, or whether he will be admitted into the local hospital system for treatment.

 

https://www.thephuketnews.com/separated-by-covid-family-holiday-for-new-year-comes-undone-after-son-17-tests-positive-in-phuket-82597.php

[Jingthing]

Bottom line, tourists shouldn't come at all until this mess is over which still could be years.

Returning expats, family reunification, those are the only rational reasons to come now.

[ThailandRyan]

Just now, Bkk Brian said:

Another one just announced..................

 

Separated by COVID: Family holiday for New Year comes undone after son, 17, tests positive in Phuket

 

PHUKET: A family holiday to Phuket has left a 17-year-old trapped in a hotel room for five days waiting for confirmation on whether or not he is a ‘Green’ COVID patient and allowed to move to a room next door to his father and brother at a ‘quarantine hotel’, or whether he will be admitted into the local hospital system for treatment.

 

https://www.thephuketnews.com/separated-by-covid-family-holiday-for-new-year-comes-undone-after-son-17-tests-positive-in-phuket-82597.php

This is going to completely unwind this government and Thailands tourism, which was already on Life support.

 

We have discussed this ad-infinum and only truly ill and having symptoms should be hospitalized. Others should isolate and be checked on as they were doing after Delta filled up the hospitals, hospitels and field hospital locations.

[ThailandRyan]

2 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Bottom line, tourists shouldn't come at all until this mess is over which still could be years.

Returning expats, family reunification, those are the only rational reasons to come now.

If I did not absolutely have to make this trip to the US to settle estate business and such I would be staying and not leaving next week with a return in February.

 

Hopefully I do not get stuck outside and can return, even if I have to quarantine here.  At least the US is not forcing me to isolate and quarantine upon arrival.

[ukrules]

3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

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

Indeed an international insurer will pay up for emergency treatment.

 

The word 'emergency' doesn't apply to the asymptomatic, and the insurance company doesn't give a <deleted> what the Thai government think.

 

They don't need to go to hospital at all if they're asymptomatic so they won't pay and they never will, it's as simple as that and this will never change.

 

 

[ukrules]

2 hours 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...

They clearly don't know the rules in Thailand or they would never dream of coming here.

 

We're talking about people who look at a picture of a hotel / beach and then click 'book'. That's going to be the extent of their research.

 

I can't really blame them though as what's happening in Thailand when someone tests positive is not typical of what happens almost anywhere else in the world outside of China.

[Jim P]

13 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Are you having a laugh?

Why would I be having a laugh? Weren`t the rules clear enough for people when they applied, hadn`t there been previous stories of people testing positive on arrival, haven`t countries be been advising against all non essential travel? But of course the old `it won`t happen to me` outweighed all common sense and therefore cheapening out on the insurance. And now we have the entitled attitude to deny the hotels other business and putting staff at risk. 

[gungadin1]

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

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 ? 

I bought axa last year and Tune this year.Both say coverage from immigration at airport onwards and with no symptoms,I checked.Luckily I never had to find out.

Also I was sat next to my Mrs in the plane,she tested positive at hotel and me negative but they said I could go because we were staying in seperate hotel rooms luckily.my idea

[Jingthing]

9 minutes ago, ukrules said:

They clearly don't know the rules in Thailand or they would never dream of coming here.

 

We're talking about people who look at a picture of a hotel / beach and then click 'book'. That's going to be the extent of their research.

 

I can't really blame them though as what's happening in Thailand when someone tests positive is not typical of what happens almost anywhere else in the world outside of China.

Exactly.

There are a number of places where the Covid related rules for tourists are reasonable. Thailand isn't one of them. Tourists shouldn't come here.

[Guderian]

Why is this surprising? Thailand is the LoS - the Land of Scams. I thought that was a part of the charm of the country for foreigners, otherwise why do they keep on returning here? Maybe they'll finally learn something about the country now and take their custom to less corrupt countries.

[underthesky]

Phuket in crisis, just as most tourists are going be funneled there, with the axing of test and go.

[poohy]

3 hours ago, ozfarang said:

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.......?

so in all honesty insurance to enter Thailand is now proving to be

 

1. worthless
2. fraudulent 
3. both of the above

[Enzian]

1 hour ago, Gsxrnz said:

 

Somebody should explain Chaos Theory and The Butterfly Effect to the Thai government, and that both theories are warnings, not instruction manuals.

 

 

They can't even grasp Black Swans, let alone something like that.

[Jim P]

They are putting the whole Sandbox program at risk with their entitled attitudes. No doubt the rhetoric is `in my country` well wake up this isn`t your country. If everyone has this attitude of squatters the program risks being shelved. Take them back to the airport and get rid of them, they won`t be missed.

[ThailandRyan]

3 minutes ago, Jim P said:

They are putting the whole Sandbox program at risk with their entitled attitudes. No doubt the rhetoric is `in my country` well wake up this isn`t your country. If everyone has this attitude of squatters the program risks being shelved. Take them back to the airport and get rid of them, they won`t be missed.

It is just not foreigners I am afraid.  Complacency and the belief that this government has defeated the Covid is rife amongst the public.