My ship has come in: I can finally afford health insurance here in Thailand, but I have literally no experience buying it. Hoping for recommendations for agents, plans, and companies. I don't want to make a stupid mistake and find out later. I'm getting older, and Thailand is my home. Asking for guidance to avoid getting swindled. I'd like to choose an established company that's going to be around for many decades, so I don't get locked out after 80. 

You are asking a very broad question.  What policy limits are you looking for?   Are you looking to buy Health Insurance that will comply with the Non Imm OA Visa? Are you only looking for IPD(inpatient) or do you want OPD(Outpatient) as well?  Most importantly how old are?  If you are over 65 or even 60 then starting a new health insurance policy will be difficult.  

 

Even before you sit down with an agent or broker have answers to the question in mind.

Lots of recent threads on it, how old are you? how much can you afford?

Look up Mr. Matt at Global Insurance broker, Duck Plaza (Pattaya near Big C on Sukhumvit).

He probably has what you are looking for.

on misterprakan you can enter age and got tens of policies from some 6  companies.

The cheapest pacific cross.

With more expensive policies you can chose up to 300k deductible and lower your fee by half.

That one, as well as yet another, more expensive company, offer new policies till 75 - you don't have to start right now.

Pacific offers 20% reduction on no claim.

I don't think you have to stick with one company. Unless they offer no claim reduction. For that only pacific

I recommend you contact AA brokers. www.aainsure.net

 

I also strongly recommend you do nto get a Thai issued policy but rather an expatriate policy issued out of a western country, and tell the broker this is what you want.

 

other things to look for:

 

- guarnateed lifetime renewal

- direct payment arrangements with Thai hospitals

- hospitalization only policies includes outpatient cancer care and dialysis

 

 

 

Listen to Sheryl's advice !

Thanks to everyone for guidance. Will check www.aainsure.net with Sheryl's recommendations in mind. I'm 57. I can afford 100k baht a year, which is cheap by US standards, but I'm overwhelmed by options and choices. 

2 hours ago, Ebumbu said:

Thanks to everyone for guidance. Will check www.aainsure.net with Sheryl's recommendations in mind. I'm 57. I can afford 100k baht a year, which is cheap by US standards, but I'm overwhelmed by options and choices. 

At this age you can certainly get a good international expat policy for under 100k baht a year. But keep in mind premiums will go up as you age. At 65 it will be a bit over 100K baht per year (maybe more by then, with inflation) and by 70, close to 150K a year

At 57, most insurance companies won't ask for the applicant to have a medical examination. However, if the OP hasn't had a thorough medical recently, I would recommend getting that done just to see if there are any pre-existing conditions that may come back to bite on whatever insurance he settles on. The medicals can vary greatly in price between very reasonable at government hospitals to the comparatively expensive private hospital option for the same suite of tests. I get offshore medicals every two years but they aren't nearly rigorous enough as one gets to the 55+ age.