Hi.. Looking for Medical cover as an Expat living in Thailand.. Looking for advice on best companies to use that have no problems paying medical bills etc.. 

Most seem to go with pacific cross or cigna, as in my 70's too expensive for decent cover

How old are you and what pre-existing conditions do you have?

24 minutes ago, proton said:

Most seem to go with pacific cross or cigna, as in my 70's too expensive for decent cover

Pacific Cross - cheaper than others, but other reports (on this forum) have reported they do not pay out so readily and can also increase their premiums the following year after paying out on a claim.

 

 

Best and most reliable: BUPA and Cigna (if you want all singing all dancing). 

 

Otherwise - using a broker such as Pacific Prime to shop around, see whats available and select the level of cover vs premium is a good way to go. 

 

Wife and Son are with VUMI which has been decent enough (IDP only). 

Previously with April (they refused a claim which I don’t think they should have). 

BUPA were always excellent (and covered Wife’s Pregnancy and Birth of our son)

Currently with Cigna, excellent cover, but its through work (which would be a 300k baht per year cover if taken directly).

 

 

I've been using Aetna (formerly BUPA) for many years and they're very professional. For instance, they offer me free flu vaccines every year and have a top notch team that are more than willing to answer any health related questions you might have.

Claim denied is a risk with any insurer if they can find it's pre-existing, less likely with a farang company, April International, Cigna, but if you don't disclose everything on the application form, expect a denied claim down the line

41 minutes ago, Phoenix Rising said:

I've been using Aetna (formerly BUPA) for many years and they're very professional. For instance, they offer me free flu vaccines every year and have a top notch team that are more than willing to answer any health related questions you might have.

The free annual flu shots is not an incentive. I get mine every year for free, and it has nothing to do with any health insurance. A team from the district hospital comes to our village community center twice a year. First time is to check blood pressure and blood sugar levels of everyone (including farangs) living in the village. The 2nd time is for the free flu shot, again for everyone living in the village including farangs.

I have my health insurance through Bangkok Life Assurance.  I had 2 claims this year which were paid promptly without any questions.  Premiums are set and increases happen every 5 years and are predetermined so I know how much it will cost.  They will cover me up to age 95 if I live that long.

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

Pacific Cross - cheaper than others, but other reports (on this forum) have reported they do not pay out so readily and can also increase their premiums the following year after paying out on a claim.

 

 

Best and most reliable: BUPA and Cigna (if you want all singing all dancing). 

 

Otherwise - using a broker such as Pacific Prime to shop around, see whats available and select the level of cover vs premium is a good way to go. 

 

Wife and Son are with VUMI which has been decent enough (IDP only). 

Previously with April (they refused a claim which I don’t think they should have). 

BUPA were always excellent (and covered Wife’s Pregnancy and Birth of our son)

Currently with Cigna, excellent cover, but its through work (which would be a 300k baht per year cover if taken directly).

 

 

"Pacific Cross - cheaper than others, but other reports (on this forum) have reported they do not pay out so readily and can also increase their premiums the following year after paying out on a claim."

 

Of course the premiums you pay will increase after a claim is paid, the same as ALL insurance companies. The actual premium doesn't increase, but making a claim results in losing your annual 10% no claim bonus, which is then reinstated if you go another 12 months without making a claim. As for not paying out readily, you'll find that usually occurs if there is a pre-existing condition with regards to the claim. As an example I'm with Pacific Cross and declared that I had arthroscopies to both knees in 1989. They still consider this to be a pre-existing condition (in my opinion wrongly, as pre- existing conditions are only supposed to be considered as such if they occurred in the 5 years prior to joining the health fund) and will not cover me for arthritis in my knees. The only thing they will cover for my knees is broken bones.

42 minutes ago, TigerandDog said:

"Pacific Cross - cheaper than others, but other reports (on this forum) have reported they do not pay out so readily and can also increase their premiums the following year after paying out on a claim."

 

Of course the premiums you pay will increase after a claim is paid, the same as ALL insurance companies. The actual premium doesn't increase, but making a claim results in losing your annual 10% no claim bonus, which is then reinstated if you go another 12 months without making a claim. As for not paying out readily, you'll find that usually occurs if there is a pre-existing condition with regards to the claim. As an example I'm with Pacific Cross and declared that I had arthroscopies to both knees in 1989. They still consider this to be a pre-existing condition (in my opinion wrongly, as pre- existing conditions are only supposed to be considered as such if they occurred in the 5 years prior to joining the health fund) and will not cover me for arthritis in my knees. The only thing they will cover for my knees is broken bones.

I will have to correct you. After claiming a payment for a procedure from Pacific Cross 4 years ago, I not only lost my no claim bonus, but in addition a 25% penalty was loaded to my premium for the following 3 years. 
 

49 minutes ago, TigerandDog said:

 

Of course the premiums you pay will increase after a claim is paid, the same as ALL insurance companies.

Not quite, farang insurers don't do that, it's a thai thing

CIGNA is CIGNA (Thailand) operated under TIA, (Thai Insurance Association) rules. CIGNA (Thailand) is Owned by Chubb. It is illegal for insurance brokers in Thailand to sell policies with insurers outside Thailand.

Best most Trustworthy insurance companies for medical insurance in Thailand?  

 

Trustworthy insurance companies? There's None.

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2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

3 hours ago, TigerandDog said:

Of course the premiums you pay will increase after a claim is paid, the same as ALL insurance companies.

Not quite, farang insurers don't do that, it's a thai thing

CIGNA Global UK (policy with CIGNA Belgium) raised my premium from 300.50 monthly in 2018 to 385.14 in 2021 with no claims and $3000 deductible.

19 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

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CIGNA Global UK (policy with CIGNA Belgium) raised my premium from 300.50 monthly in 2018 to 385.14 in 2021 with no claims and $3000 deductible.

change in age bracket? maybe due to another reason, not claims

8 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

change in age bracket? maybe due to another reason, not claims

No change in age bracket. If they had a reason, they never said.

4 hours ago, statman78 said:

I have my health insurance through Bangkok Life Assurance.  I had 2 claims this year which were paid promptly without any questions.  Premiums are set and increases happen every 5 years and are predetermined so I know how much it will cost.  They will cover me up to age 95 if I live that long.

Two claims in one year is not looking promising for longevity .

Unless of course it was ingrowing toenails

5 hours ago, Phoenix Rising said:

I've been using Aetna (formerly BUPA) for many years and they're very professional. For instance, they offer me free flu vaccines every year and have a top notch team that are more than willing to answer any health related questions you might have.

Actually formerly Aetna..it is now been taken over by 'Alliance AYUDHYA'...

 

4 hours ago, TigerandDog said:

The free annual flu shots is not an incentive. I get mine every year for free, and it has nothing to do with any health insurance. A team from the district hospital comes to our village community center twice a year. First time is to check blood pressure and blood sugar levels of everyone (including farangs) living in the village. The 2nd time is for the free flu shot, again for everyone living in the village including farangs.

Thank you for that entirely useless piece of information....

Got insurance (accident only) from Bangkok Bank when I opened the account.

 

Only 5,900 baht.

 

As it happened TWO accidents in one year, both promptly paid direct to hospital (Bangkok Pattaya Hospital) without any problems.

 

More than covered the premium!

 

I'm 62.

14 hours ago, jerrymahoney said:

No change in age bracket. If they had a reason, they never said.

Did you ask?

17 hours ago, nigelforbes said:

CIGNA is CIGNA (Thailand) operated under TIA, (Thai Insurance Association) rules. CIGNA (Thailand) is Owned by Chubb. It is illegal for insurance brokers in Thailand to sell policies with insurers outside Thailand.

 It is a little more nuanced than that.

Many threads talking about "International" based insurers including Cigna, April International, Passport Card, Allianz and others who also have Thai based schemes.

You just pay the premium to them directly rather than to the broker.generally.

 

19 hours ago, Phoenix Rising said:

I've been using Aetna (formerly BUPA) for many years and they're very professional. For instance, they offer me free flu vaccines every year and have a top notch team that are more than willing to answer any health related questions you might have.

Wow, Bht 1000 for a flu vaccine, and questions answered. How do they fare when a claim is made?

19 minutes ago, topt said:

 It is a little more nuanced than that.

Many threads talking about "International" based insurers including Cigna, April International, Passport Card, Allianz and others who also have Thai based schemes.

You just pay the premium to them directly rather than to the broker.generally.

 

I confess I don't fully understand what the situation is, I'm just parroting what another (usually) credible and knowledgeable posters wrote. But that does support what happened in my case. I thought I had bought my policy initially through CIGNA UK but gave a Thai address and residence, all my dealings with them were through the UK customer support team albeit I paid in THB. This year at renewal, all my dealings were with the Thai based CS team and the policy is indeed subject to TIA rules. My assumption was/is that companies such as CIGNA will not sell overseas policies to foreign citizens, who register a Thai address, instead the application is transferred to the local branch of the company.

30 minutes ago, topt said:

Did you ask?

No I did not ask WHY? I got them to drop the monthly premium from

 

Premium frequency:
407.23 USD Monthly

 

to the $385.4 monthly after they applied a 5% 'loyalty discount'

 

But as I have said elsewhere, the main impetus for dropping CIGNA Global was that I was moving to an area where they had no direct payment hospitals and the circuitous way that they wanted to deal with that I found unacceptable.

 

 

18 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Not quite, farang insurers don't do that, it's a thai thing

My farang health insurance, before I moved to Thailand, ALWAYS removed the no claim bonus when a claim was made. That's why it's called a no claim bonus.

3 hours ago, KannikaP said:

Wow, Bht 1000 for a flu vaccine, and questions answered. How do they fare when a claim is made?

Professionally, or I wouldn't have recommended them.

4 minutes ago, Phoenix Rising said:

Professionally, or I wouldn't have recommended them.

So you HAVE claimed?

1 minute ago, KannikaP said:

So you HAVE claimed?

Wow, you powers of deduction are positively Sherlock Holmes like!

9 minutes ago, Phoenix Rising said:

Wow, you powers of deduction are positively Sherlock Holmes like!

And so did you lose any No Claims Bonus or a rise in Premium. Only asking as I am considering using them.