What is the recommended medical insurance for 1 year non immigrant visa holder?

[topswijaya]

Dear all,

 

What is the recommended medical insurance for 1-year non immigrant visa holder?

 

Thanks

[Tracyb]

lets start this off by asking what type of Non-immigrant visa you hold and if you are currently in Thailand.

[ubonjoe]

Unless you get a Non-OA visa you will not need medical insurance. You would only need covid 19 insurance required to enter the country.

[sometimewoodworker]

10 hours ago, topswijaya said:

What is the recommended medical insurance for 1-year non immigrant visa holder?

Enough to cover your most expensive anticipated accident or disease, 

[Pmbkk]

6 million dollar question(not man) - I'm sure if there was an English speaking agent which had good deals; illustrated by costs , comparisons and proof of payments on illness they could make a good bit of commission advertising on this site.

Edited May 27, 2022 by Pmbkk

[CANSIAM]

If you are applying for a Non O  E-Visa online from your home country Thai Embassy, you will need health insurance for the application.

[ThaiVisaCentre]

Luma offers a Long Stay plan which would meet any visa requirements (including OA).

details attached
 

Luma Long Stay Care - Brochure 2022 - English (1) (1).pdf

[soisanuk]

10 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Enough to cover your most expensive anticipated accident or disease, 

If your inquiry is for health insurance to cover medical expenses in Thailand rather than for just entry into Thailand, this is good advice.

 

One often sees comments from Expats saying that if they will self insure and if they have a serious illness, they will return to their  home country - especially those whose country offers free medical care.  But due to accident or sudden illness that is life threatening, they may not have the ability to return to their home country.

 

In the 19 years I have resided here, I have had three life threatening conditions. The most expensive one, an acute lung infection cost more than 2 million baht for treatment in an international hospital. Fortunately, I am insured and the all the costs were covered.

[Sheryl]

Whatever insurance you end up getting, get it through a (good) broker. Do not buy it yourself directly. A good broker will assist with any claims issues that may arise later. You do not want to end up being in your own in a claims dispute -- especially with a Thai insurer. And with the latter especially, disputes/cklaimns denials are much more common than with foreign based companies. (Howeverm if extending in  country from an O-A visa, foreign insurance is currently not an option).

[topswijaya]

2 hours ago, soisanuk said:

If your inquiry is for health insurance to cover medical expenses in Thailand rather than for just entry into Thailand, this is good advice.

 

One often sees comments from Expats saying that if they will self insure and if they have a serious illness, they will return to their  home country - especially those whose country offers free medical care.  But due to accident or sudden illness that is life threatening, they may not have the ability to return to their home country.

 

In the 19 years I have resided here, I have had three life threatening conditions. The most expensive one, an acute lung infection cost more than 2 million baht for treatment in an international hospital. Fortunately, I am insured and the all the costs were covered.

what is the name of insurance that you have? 

[soisanuk]

2 hours ago, topswijaya said:

what is the name of insurance that you have? 

It is not available to anyone unless they were employed for at least 5 years by an agency of the US Government. It is Blue Cross & Blue Shield Federal Employee Program which is one of the insurance companies the US Government offers to employees. I carried it over into retirement.

[Old Croc]

28 minutes ago, soisanuk said:

It is not available to anyone unless they were employed for at least 5 years by an agency of the US Government. It is Blue Cross & Blue Shield Federal Employee Program which is one of the insurance companies the US Government offers to employees. I carried it over into retirement.

Not much help for the vast majority here. Happy for you that insurance helped out with your illnesses.

 

Self insurance doesn't actually mean returning to home country for treatment. It means having sufficient personal assets available to pay for any health crises that may occur. Not everybody wants to pay for all the overheads insurance companies need to operate.

It is a numbers and waiting game, a gamble perhaps, but it will be much cheaper over time if that large crises doesn't occur too soon.

Many here save money by having enough (invested) money to cover any unforeseen expenses.

[ThaiVisaCentre]

47 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

Not much help for the vast majority here. Happy for you that insurance helped out with your illnesses.

 

Self insurance doesn't actually mean returning to home country for treatment. It means having sufficient personal assets available to pay for any health crises that may occur. Not everybody wants to pay for all the overheads insurance companies need to operate.

It is a numbers and waiting game, a gamble perhaps, but it will be much cheaper over time if that large crises doesn't occur too soon.

Many here save money by having enough (invested) money to cover any unforeseen expenses.

There will always be a large number of people which end up doing well by not having insurance, or an expensive policy and "self insuring".

However one big advantage of insurance is that it is a fixed cost, and you already know that you will be covered if/when something happens.

It's a choice, and can be compared to a gambling.

Similar to buying a home, investing, or keeping money in a specific currency.

We are all gambling/playing the odds in some sense.

[internationalism]

check misterprakan website, they have comparison of 6 insurance with tens policies, from 250k to some 50mln

[CANSIAM]

7 hours ago, Old Croc said:

Not much help for the vast majority here. Happy for you that insurance helped out with your illnesses.

 

Self insurance doesn't actually mean returning to home country for treatment. It means having sufficient personal assets available to pay for any health crises that may occur. Not everybody wants to pay for all the overheads insurance companies need to operate.

It is a numbers and waiting game, a gamble perhaps, but it will be much cheaper over time if that large crises doesn't occur too soon.

Many here save money by having enough (invested) money to cover any unforeseen expenses.

Another thought is to get on some sort of reasonable health plan when you are reasonably healthy, if not like you say, stash away some Baht for unforeseen health surprises....

[BangkokReady]

13 minutes ago, CANSIAM said:

Another thought is to get on some sort of reasonable health plan when you are reasonably healthy

Why?

[CANSIAM]

21 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

Why?

Disclosing pre existing conditions if any ( may come with age ) can front load premiums, then again can BS your way through applications if a check up isn't required......

[BangkokReady]

14 minutes ago, CANSIAM said:

Disclosing pre existing conditions if any ( may come with age ) can front load premiums, then again can BS your way through applications if a check up isn't required......

So if you start medical  insurance when you don't have a condition, they will keep insuring you if one develops?  But if you don't have insurance, then try to get it once you have a condition, they will reject you?

[CANSIAM]

3 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

So if you start medical  insurance when you don't have a condition, they will keep insuring you if one develops?  But if you don't have insurance, then try to get it once you have a condition, they will reject you?

They won't reject you when applying and disclosing a condition but may add a percentage loading on top of their regular age bracket annual premium cost. No insurance and some health cash stashed works.

[DrJack54]

When did optional health insurance become a "Thai visas, residency, work permits" forum topic.

Edited May 28, 2022 by DrJack54

[BangkokReady]

16 minutes ago, CANSIAM said:

may add a percentage loading on top of their regular age bracket annual premium cost

And they wouldn't do that if you were a long-term customer?

[CANSIAM]

18 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

And they wouldn't do that if you were a long-term customer?

Depends on the insurance company, make some calls. After they've fixed you up and completely healed whether they load you the following year or not.  

[Old Croc]

5 hours ago, CANSIAM said:

Another thought is to get on some sort of reasonable health plan when you are reasonably healthy, if not like you say, stash away some Baht for unforeseen health surprises....

I had private health insurance for most of my life in Australia. They paid for a couple of hip replacements and some incidentals, but never paid out any where near as much as I put in over my younger, healthy years, The government allowed them to increase premiums by something like 6% every year even though it was documented that their costs were only going up by something like 4%. (from memory),

I kept paying out for several years after moving here, even though they didn't pay for overseas treatments. I cancelled when I realised that the cost for travel back and accommodation (for two), would far exceed any benefit for treatment there, if I was fit enough to travel. I have the means to self insure with the relatively cheap cost of good health care in Thailand.

Of course I checked out Thai insurance, but as a retiree I was not a good buy for them, and their high premiums and refusal to cover existing problems of an older person made them prohibitive for me.

I believe insurance premiums in Thailand are high for several reasons. Citizens here are eligible for the cheap government health scheme and therefore insurance companies don't get the volume and, in typical Thai business dealings, hospitals have a 2 tier pricing structure with the bills significantly higher if insured. (Members here did a fairly good comparison in a thread a few years back)

[soisanuk]

On 5/28/2022 at 10:26 PM, CANSIAM said:

They won't reject you when applying and disclosing a condition but may add a percentage loading on top of their regular age bracket annual premium cost. No insurance and some health cash stashed works.

A Thai insurance company will most likely exclude previous conditions or any revealed by a physical check up (if they require one) from cover -- in some cases it may be a specified period of years while for others it the previous conditions will never be covered.

 

Depending on the condition, this can cover a host of "related" problems.  For example, a friend of mine was told they would exclude all heart related problems because he disclosed he was taking a statin drug to lower his cholesterol and was told they would exclude all heart related problems.  

[CANSIAM]

10 hours ago, soisanuk said:

A Thai insurance company will most likely exclude previous conditions or any revealed by a physical check up (if they require one) from cover -- in some cases it may be a specified period of years while for others it the previous conditions will never be covered.

 

Depending on the condition, this can cover a host of "related" problems.  For example, a friend of mine was told they would exclude all heart related problems because he disclosed he was taking a statin drug to lower his cholesterol and was told they would exclude all heart related problems.  

Here's another example where an Insurance company after an application disclosure 'would not pay for hypertension medication but will cover long term consequences of hypertension such as heart attacks, strokes'.

[JimTripper]

On 5/27/2022 at 9:06 PM, Sheryl said:

Whatever insurance you end up getting, get it through a (good) broker. Do not buy it yourself directly. A good broker will assist with any claims issues that may arise later. You do not want to end up being in your own in a claims dispute -- especially with a Thai insurer. And with the latter especially, disputes/cklaimns denials are much more common than with foreign based companies. (Howeverm if extending in  country from an O-A visa, foreign insurance is currently not an option).

Can you provide an example of a broker? I insure through Pacific Cross directly. How would I do it through a broker?

[Sheryl]

5 hours ago, JimTripper said:

Can you provide an example of a broker? I insure through Pacific Cross directly. How would I do it through a broker?

I use AA

 

www.aainsure.net

There, I have dealt with Jenny (Jeanine Hermannsun, [email protected]) and Matthieu (Matthieu Heijigenberg  , [email protected]) and both have been very helpful.

 

You could have gotten your PC policy through them to begin with. Having not done so, there is a way you can change to that modality but it may have to wait for your next renewal, they can explain home (you sign something).

 

It does not cost more.