Health insurance for single male in 50s

[Hans99]

Hello, I'm a single American male in my 50s, just beginning to look into health insurance.  At first glance, it seems that the process of insurance shopping is very complicated.

 

In my case, this isn't visa-related, I just want insurance that'll work in Thailand (and ideally, other countries as well, if possible, but don't need coverage in USA).

 

So I started by looking on "The Thaiger", and right away, I'm already confused.  For example:

 

1.  On one page it says "the premium rate for 55 year old males starts at 70,000 baht a year", while on another page it shows a premium rate of 12,992 baht/year for a 55 year old.  This seems to be a contradiction.  I'm not sure why they'd say something that's not true.

 

2.  The latter page says "Renewable until 90 years old", while also saying "You won't have to worry about the financial consequences of being sick or injured if you have retiree health insurance."  I don't understand why they think a person won't worry at all, getting dropped from their insurance at age 90.  Do they not know that some people in their 90s have a lot of health issues?

 

I guess "The Thaiger" is an insurance broker, so the above contradictions lead me to another question:

 

3.  Is it better to avoid brokers and go directly with an insurance company?  Why use a broker?

 

Sorry if these are dumb questions, but I'm just starting to look at this now.  Thanks in advance for any info or insights.

[scubascuba3]

Best to look for the threads on health insurance, must be 10+ in the last couple months.

 

Best to see a broker so you can compare insurance companies, AA Insurance are popular

[metisdead]

Moving to the Insurance forum. 

[Hans99]

8 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Best to look for the threads on health insurance, must be 10+ in the last couple months.

 

Best to see a broker so you can compare insurance companies, AA Insurance are popular

OK, I see that I was in the wrong section (more insurance discussion in this section).

 

Yes, I see that AAinsure is popular, but someone posted about some serious disadvantages of going with a Thai-based insurer, and therefore Thai-based brokers as well.  So that rules out AA.

[scubascuba3]

8 hours ago, Hans99 said:

OK, I see that I was in the wrong section (more insurance discussion in this section).

 

Yes, I see that AAinsure is popular, but someone posted about some serious disadvantages of going with a Thai-based insurer, and therefore Thai-based brokers as well.  So that rules out AA.

AA can offer non thai insurers such as April Global (based in France), not to be confused with April Thailand

[Mike Teavee]

10 hours ago, Hans99 said:

So I started by looking on "The Thaiger", and right away, I'm already confused.  For example:

If you're looking for a Thai Insurance company (& if you plan on living in Thailand then why wouldn't you) I would start by comparing policies on Mister Prakan

 https://misterprakan.com/en/health/health-insurance-thailand 

 

Once you find a policy you like you can either purchase it through them or direct with the Insurer or with another broker - The price is the same... I found the customer service at Mister Prakan to be very helpful & quick to respond to queries so I purchased my policy & do my renewals (next one is due in Jan) through them. 

 

FWIW I'm 56 & have the Pacific Cross "Visa Friendly" policy

https://www.pacificcrosshealth.com/en/longstay-visa/

 

I removed the Outpatients cover ( Like you, I don't need Health Insurance for my Visa/Extensions) & took a 100k deductible (You can play about with the various options on the Mister Prakan site) -  IIRC the 1st year was approx. 25,000b (I took it out the day before my 55th Birthday) & the renewal this year was 26,800b 

 

 

 

[internationalism]

Yes, visa friendly policy was the best, but since August they don't issue it anymore for 1 year. 
It can be now only renewed. 
They have now 90 and 180 days, which are not a good deal. 
There is a similar policy from pacific cross covering 3mln (but covering only up to 300k per hospitalisation in medical expenses) or better and more expensive 5mln. 

[scubascuba3]

11 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

If you're looking for a Thai Insurance company (& if you plan on living in Thailand then why wouldn't you) I would start by comparing policies on Mister Prakan

 https://misterprakan.com/en/health/health-insurance-thailand 

 

Once you find a policy you like you can either purchase it through them or direct with the Insurer or with another broker - The price is the same... I found the customer service at Mister Prakan to be very helpful & quick to respond to queries so I purchased my policy & do my renewals (next one is due in Jan) through them. 

 

FWIW I'm 56 & have the Pacific Cross "Visa Friendly" policy

https://www.pacificcrosshealth.com/en/longstay-visa/

 

I removed the Outpatients cover ( Like you, I don't need Health Insurance for my Visa/Extensions) & took a 100k deductible (You can play about with the various options on the Mister Prakan site) -  IIRC the 1st year was approx. 25,000b (I took it out the day before my 55th Birthday) & the renewal this year was 26,800b 

 

 

 

I had a look at Mr Prakan site, weird that the personal accident cover is way lower than max cover, like 5m baht policy, something like 100k baht, Thai logic there alive and well

[Lemsta69]

11 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

If you're looking for a Thai Insurance company (& if you plan on living in Thailand then why wouldn't you)

He specifically said he does NOT want a Thai insurance company. The conventional wisdom on this forum is that Thai companies are shonky and that its best to go with international ones. 

[Mike Teavee]

Deleted - Pointless 

 

 

[Onerak]

23 hours ago, Hans99 said:

In my case, this isn't visa-related, I just want insurance that'll work in Thailand (and ideally, other countries as well, if possible, but don't need coverage in USA).

If you have a US insurance, you can check if that covers international or not. I have US based high deductible insurance with an HSA (pre tax) MC. It is a PPO so out of network they only pay 50%. I used it twice so far in Thailand and once in Amsterdam and they reimbursed 50%. And the HSA MC is accepted in private hospitals in Thailand. 

[Hans99]

13 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

If you're looking for a Thai Insurance company (& if you plan on living in Thailand then why wouldn't you)

 

 

 

The reasons not to use a Thai company were discussed in another thread (here).

 

14 minutes ago, Onerak said:

If you have a US insurance, you can check if that covers international or not.

It's a US-only plan.  I want to keep that plan and buy a separate non-US plan (but not from a Thai company, for reasons indicated in the above-referenced thread).

 

The website I mentioned in the original post said there are some policies that can only be obtained before age 60, and I'm 59.5, so the clock is ticking.  However, I don't know how reliable the information is on that website, considering that I've already found contradictions in their information (as I mentioned in the original post).

[internationalism]

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

I had a look at Mr Prakan site, weird that the personal accident cover is way lower than max cover, like 5m baht policy, something like 100k baht, Thai logic there alive and well

accident is already covered by health insurance.

 accident would also cover outpatient, but usually to around 1/10, so not much.

Accident is generally a death, dismember benefit.

Probably that way they try to force clients to include outpatient.

 

Some insurers, like the pacific cross, allow to top up their health with PA up to 5mln (they charge 150b for each additional 100k cover).

[Mike Teavee]

57 minutes ago, Hans99 said:

The reasons not to use a Thai company were discussed in another thread (here).

I read that thread & the "Reason to not use a Thai Company" basically came down to one guy's opinion, mainly about renewal & smaller Insurance companies... Hardly a reason not to use a major Thai Insurance company... 

 

 

 

But even if he is correct, IMHO the #1 thing when choosing an Insurance Policy is whether the Hospital I'm likely to be admitted to will accept it or not... I.e. How many International Policies are likely to be accepted at a Thai Hospital where a major Thai Insurance company (Say Pacific Cross) wouldn't be? 

 

 

I tried to check on arguably Thailand's #1 hospital... https://www.bumrungrad.com/en/insurance/

 

But when I click on International Insurance companies accepted for direct payment, I seem to just get the Thai companies again.... 

 

 

End of the day do your own research but please make sure that the hospital that you might end up in, accepts that gold plated, well regulated, guaranteed renewal until you're 99+ policy... Or make sure you keep enough money in the bank to pay & claim back... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scubascuba3]

3 hours ago, internationalism said:

accident is already covered by health insurance.

 accident would also cover outpatient, but usually to around 1/10, so not much.

Accident is generally a death, dismember benefit.

Probably that way they try to force clients to include outpatient.

 

Some insurers, like the pacific cross, allow to top up their health with PA up to 5mln (they charge 150b for each additional 100k cover).

it's not clear from that Mr whatsit website what personal accident means, usually its medical cover per accident 

[scubascuba3]

2 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

I read that thread & the "Reason to not use a Thai Company" basically came down to one guy's opinion, mainly about renewal & smaller Insurance companies... Hardly a reason not to use a major Thai Insurance company... 

 

 

 

Not quite true, thai companies don't follow the same regs + can increase premiums after a claim, International insurance companies can't (EU, UK, not sure about other countries)

[Hans99]

8 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

I tried to check on arguably Thailand's #1 hospital... https://www.bumrungrad.com/en/insurance/

 

But when I click on International Insurance companies accepted for direct payment, I seem to just get the Thai companies again....

Did you look at the whole list?  I saw "Cigna", "Allianz Worldwide Care Limited", "Aetna International", "Aetna Global Benefits (USA)", etc., listed under "International (Non-Thai Subsidiary) Direct Billing Contracts" on the page you linked.

 

I don't know what hospital I'll be going to since I'm not even in Thailand yet.  And I may be splitting my time between Thailand and one or two other countries, so I'm more likely to buy a multi-country (not including US) policy, depending on what's offered.  And I don't know what hospitals I might go to in those other countries.  If they don't bill directly, I don't mind paying myself and then submitting a claim, as long as they're reliable.

 

Therefore, the information and opinions I'm seeing so far (including the various responses in this thread) seem to weigh in favor of a non-Thai-based company.

 

One other question, I've read other threads saying that not buying outpatient coverage may be more cost-effective, but then I'm wondering what happens when an outpatient physician orders a CT scan, which may be expensive.

[Mike Teavee]

35 minutes ago, Hans99 said:

I don't know what hospital I'll be going to since I'm not even in Thailand yet.  And I may be splitting my time between Thailand and one or two other countries, so I'm more likely to buy a multi-country (not including US) policy, depending on what's offered.  And I don't know what hospitals I might go to in those other countries.  If they don't bill directly, I don't mind paying myself and then submitting a claim, as long as they're reliable.

If you are not planning on living in Thailand fulltime then it absolutely makes more sense to get an international policy as the Thai ones do seem pretty poor when it comes to overseas coverage (I buy travel insurance when I go visit the UK) - But if you are planning to live here full time then (IMHO) it makes more sense to buy a Thai Insurance policy from one of the major insurance companies. 

 

Re: https://www.bumrungrad.com/en/insurance/ list of insurers it was sort of tongue in cheek as the link to the International companies supported doesn't work but do be careful as CIGNA/Allianz etc... Thailand are not the same as CIGNA/Allianz international... They are basically umbrella companies for their parent brand so in effect Thai Insurance companies (arguably smaller ones).