COVID Insurance Arranged for Visitors upon Arrival

[connda]

You mean the insurance companies screaming to the government for help because they have to pay out on the Covid policies they sold last year?  Those insurance companies?  Hit us all with the shocker.  Let's hear what the premiums will be as well well as the policy payouts limits.  Here we are now, entertain us.

[scorecard]

8 hours ago, alyx said:

But I thought that the insurance was compulsory in order to be allowed to fly in. Unless they are talking about land borders or... Are they suggesting that soon they will not prevent the visitors to turn up at the borders without prior registration ??? ????

 

In any case, nice of them to be so thoughtful and arrange everything for the visitor, let it be the 300 Baht tax upon arrival planned in April or the insurance upon landing but..wait..wait...I was sure that the 300 Baht was going to be charged to be used as an insurance cover 

 

 

I am lost 

Has anybody seen a website which provides full details of these 10 inurance options which you can buy on arrival? Please share?

 

I wonder what happens if the arrival refuses to buy if 'too expensive'?

 

I wonder what the maximum age is on these policies?

[connda]

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

Has anybody seen a website which provides full details of these 10 inurance options which you can buy on arrival? Please share?

 

I wonder what happens if the arrival refuses to buy if 'too expensive'?

 

I wonder what the maximum age is on these policies?

I can just imagine. 
"Welcome to Thailand.  You have Covid insurance but not good enough.  Must buy good Thai Covid insurance from Thai company.  You 70 years old.  Ok.  ฿10,000 or get back on plane and go home."

Or something like that.  I wonder how long before we start to here the horror stories. 

[VBF]

7 hours ago, pattayapip said:

One of the main problems with Covid Insurance, is they mostly refuse to pay if you are asymptomatic, as in Western Countries you go home and isolate, and here you are forced into Government Hospital or Hospitel (Hospital Run Hotel)
I have had this twice now . . both times my Insurance refused to pay as mandatory confinement and zero/minor problems/symptoms . .  
If you actually were sick, then no problem with covering
It is the forced confinement with no sickness that sort of invalidates the coverage . . . .  

Which in turn invalidates any good reason to visit Thailand as a tourist at present! 

I'm naturally excluding those with family or businesses in Thailand, but then they probably read forums such as this one and are better prepared.

[Promsak]

10 hours ago, alyx said:

but..wait..wait...I was sure that the 300 Baht was going to be charged to be used as an insurance cover 

 

But they didn't specify what the insurance was for!

[Dont confuse me]

Maybe I'm being over cynical, Mr RE Spectable spends ex amount on a flight to get here it's done with everything in place except the insurance!

He arrives and is confronted by a team of uniformed lovelies 'helping him out' with the necessary insurance cover which he assumes will be more or less the same price as his home country!

Here is your 1st lesson Mr RE Spectacle, TIT where if you drop your guard your be fleeced like an Australian sheep.

Would I trust this? Not a chance! Purley my opinion based on my experiences. 

 

 

[Sheryl]

9 hours ago, charmonman said:

As is typical, this article raises more questions than it answers. As previous posters have mentioned, covid-19 insurance is a condition of receiving a Thailand Pass. Without a Thailand Pass you can't even board a plane to go to Thailand. So how the heck are people arriving in Thailand without already having covid-19 insurance? It seems this is a question that should have been addressed in this article.

 

I am constantly amazed by the sheer amount of shoddy journalism out there.

You and me both.

 

It is indeed impossible to tell from this article what is meant. Including how "voluntary" this is or is not, for people already holding the required general insurance inclsive of COVID.

 

That said, for people entering having used an international policy -- and, especially, an internationally issued travel policy --  there are potential concerns as follows:

 

1. Having to pay up front and be reimbursed -especially common with travel policies

 

2. Possibly not being covered for asymptomatic hospitalization (will depend a lot on how the hospital completes the paperwork)

 

3. Not being covered for confinement to a quarantine hotel ("hospitel") which seems to now be allowed in some places (mainly tourist areas) for some aymptomatic cases.  An international policy almost certainly will not cover this. Not really clear if  a Thai-issued policy would, either...the info on the tgia site (which is presumably the  hospitals referred to) talks only about medical expenses in hospital. 

[Bernietravelling]

not astonished

 

Why shouldn’t also the insurance companies get their

slice of the huge Covid cake ?

 

(of better: those billions spent without any sense out of taxpayer’s and consumer’s pocket …)

[Gold Star]

5 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

You mean a positive PCR isn't sufficient "documentation"?

Yes it would be. However he never tested positive, yet was incarcerated for 10 days. Accident or fire insurers don't pay for damages when there is no accident or fire.

[sambum]

And how much is this insurance likely to cost for an elderly gentleman?

[Sheryl]

4 hours ago, connda said:

You mean the insurance companies screaming to the government for help because they have to pay out on the Covid policies they sold last year?  Those insurance companies?  Hit us all with the shocker.  Let's hear what the premiums will be as well well as the policy payouts limits.  Here we are now, entertain us.

No, entirely different companies and entirely different policies.

 

The companies you refer to are small companies with little or no experience in health insurance and the policies you refer to were cash pay outs for a positive COVID test, not insurance for medical costs, and were available only to people already residing in Thailand.

[Trip Hop]

8 hours ago, hioctane said:

The way most insurance works is that you pay first and the insurance reimburses you. Some people seem to think that since they have insurance, they don’t have to fork over a dime. ????‍♂️ 

Not always. My experience is that decent insurance will have a threshold of say £500, up to which you settle yourself and claim back.  If over this, it’s normally settled direct with the hospital via local agents that they have around the world? However, I emphasize the word “decent”!  

[Millcx]

  “SHOW ME THE MONEY … 55555555

[Sheryl]

3 hours ago, scorecard said:

Has anybody seen a website which provides full details of these 10 inurance options which you can buy on arrival? Please share?

 

I wonder what happens if the arrival refuses to buy if 'too expensive'?

 

I wonder what the maximum age is on these policies?

I assume it is these

https://covid19.tgia.org/

 

Maximum age is 99

 

Premiums depend on duration

 

Details of the coverage are not clearly stated. The level is 3.2 million baht but unclear if, for example, confinement to hospital" would be covered.

 

The article is quite unclear but does not make it sound as if purchase is mandatory, given that anyone arriving has already given proof of insurance

[Sheryl]

6 minutes ago, Trip Hop said:

Not always. My experience is that decent insurance will have a threshold of say £500, up to which you settle yourself and claim back.  If over this, it’s normally settled direct with the hospital via local agents that they have around the world? However, I emphasize the word “decent”!  

 

Expat insurance policies will almost always pay a hospital directly but many travel policies do not, or do so only by special arrangement.

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, Dont confuse me said:

Maybe I'm being over cynical, Mr RE Spectable spends ex amount on a flight to get here it's done with everything in place except the insurance!

 

impossible to get here without having submitted proof of insurance

[scorecard]

54 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

You and me both.

 

It is indeed impossible to tell form this article what is meant. Including how "voluntary" this is or is not, for people already holding the required general insurance inclsive of COVID.

 

That said, for people entering having used an international policy -- and, especially, an internationally issued travel policy --  there are potential concerns as follows:

 

1. Having to pay up front and be reimbursed -especially common with travel policies

 

2. Possibly not being covered for asymptomatic hospitalization (will depend a lot on how the hospital completes the paperwork)

 

3. Not being covered for confinement to a quarantine hotel ("hospitel") which seems to now be allowed in some places (mainly tourist areas) for some aymptomatic cases.  An international policy almost certainly will not cover this. Not really clear if  a Thai-issued policy would, either...the info on the tgia site (which is presumably the  hospitals referred to) talks only about medical expenses in hospital. 

Good points, plus how knowledgeable will the insurance sales staff at the airport be?

 

Or will it be (as suggested), several beautiful girls who know nothing about insurance and nothing about the policies and just keep repeating "but it's very good". And they give a YES answer to every question beacuse that will be polite?

[Sheryl]

Just now, scorecard said:

Good points, plus how knowledgeable will the insurance sales staff at the airport be?

 

Or will it be (as suggested), several beautiful girls who know nothing about insurance and nothing about the policies and just keep repeating "but it's very good". And they give a YES answer to every question beacuse that will be polite?

Or they simply hand you a brochure as you are processed.

 

I hardly think there will be insurance agents personally approaching every traveller. The cost of doing that would be prohibitive.

[scorecard]

Just now, Sheryl said:

Or they simply hand you a brochure as you are processed.

 

I hardly think there will be insurance agents personally approaching every traveller. The cost of doing that would be prohibitive.

Well said but just wondering whether the traveler must buy a policy and have proof of buying the policy and receipt before being allowed to leave the airport?

[Sheryl]

11 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Well said but just wondering whether the traveler must buy a policy and have proof of buying the policy and receipt before being allowed to leave the airport?

The article does not seem to indicate this.

 

If they were going to make it mandatory, they could simply revise the requirement on Thailand Pass.

 

Sounds like the relevant companies approached government with request to promote their policies at the airport and govt agreed.

[Gold Star]

7 hours ago, HuaHinHim said:

So was you're friend deported or allowed to enter?

Threatened with deportation yes, but not because he refused to pay.

 

On about day 5 of his hunger strike in order to try get them to do a PCR test to confirm if he had Covid or not, he was phoned on his hospital phone in his room by someone of authority like police or immigration to tell him if he didn't comply and be a good patient, he would be deported and banned from Thailand for life upon completing his detainment.

 

His horror story started when he was tested upon arrival in the hotel parking lot, after getting out of the van from the airport along with all the others. The swabs were laying about on an open table, and the tester did not change gloves between testing others, and who knows how many van loads of other people's noses he also stuck his fingers to before his arrival. My friend did not test 'Positive' or 'Negative', but 'Detected'. That was enough to land him a 10 day stay in a solitary dirty room at a Pattaya hospital. He was not symptomatic, or asymptomatic. He says there were many others in the hospital ward in the same situation, their screams often heard throughout the hallways as his were.

 

There is a lot more horror to his treatment there, which I won't disclose due to the laws here.

 

I can say he has been through a lot of very tough things in life, but they managed to break him, and he would have done or paid anything to get out of there. He came to realize that one has no rights under the power of the emergency decree, where logic and fairness has no place.  His lawyer tried but was helpless to assist from the outside. The only way out was to start eating and comply.

 

They were never able to produce one positive test on him the whole time, so insurance would not cover it.

 

Upon being released, he and his Thai spouse were asked to sign a form saying they would pay the 100K+ hospital bill if insurance wouldn't cover it, but he said he was a pensioner, and had no money and they both refused to sign. He also had a lot of friends that came there to support him when he was released at the discharge desk, and perhaps all those witnesses may have helped prevent a much worse outcome.

 

 

 

[Jimjim1]

9 hours ago, pattayapip said:

It is the forced confinement with no sickness that sort of invalidates the coverage . .

I know where you are coming from but surely the purchaser should determine with his/her insurance company that situations such as this are covered, I did with my company and now I have a letter stating precisely that.

We are all here reading about the scams perpetrated against us so we should all be looking ahead

[allyoops]

So, is this a new insurance to insure the insurance you have already bought but doesn't really exist.

This is laughable, they just cannot come up with enough ways to rip people off.

Do they really want tourists back? or are they still driving the fantasy that the worlds rich big spenders are desperate to get to Pattaya or wherever.

[essex boys]

I bought my insurance for Thailand pass from AXA I bought the policy which covers me for asymptomatic condition as well as showing symptoms there are cheaper policies offered that do not cover asymptomatic conditions mine was 2,250 baht

[BEngBKK]

But why is Thai social security not enough ????

[Chongalulu]

10 hours ago, hioctane said:

The way most insurance works is that you pay first and the insurance reimburses you. Some people seem to think that since they have insurance, they don’t have to fork over a dime. ????‍♂️ 

Not so, most have a 24 hour emergency hotline where the hospital speaks directly with medical advisor of the insurers where they will confirm with the hospital that the insurers agree to pay. The hospital accepts this as guarantee of payment.

[Dont confuse me]

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

 

impossible to get here without having submitted proof of insurance

I thought so but it appears you can!

[scorecard]

38 minutes ago, essex boys said:

I bought my insurance for Thailand pass from AXA I bought the policy which covers me for asymptomatic condition as well as showing symptoms there are cheaper policies offered that do not cover asymptomatic conditions mine was 2,250 baht

2,250Baht for how many months cover and what is the maximum age for your policy? Please share.

[Cake Monster]

Seems like a deal not to be missed.

Insurance from a Thai Insurance Company, supplied by Thai Authorities, on Thai soil.

Very reassuring to know you will have Insurance fro a Company, that if they dont go Bust, will not pay out if you need treatment.

[essex boys]

@scorecard I just bought 30 days cover the length of cover and age were on a sliding scale I didn’t check above my age (61) for cost