Medical Insurance …..WR Life……for 70 plus……..your experience/recommendations?

[jerrymahoney]

12 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

Why not? 

Because with a large risk pool, any individual might have, say, a 2% chance of having a incident of a given condition but, with a risk pool of 1, the only chances are 100% or 0%.

[Yellowtail]

1 hour ago, jerrymahoney said:

Because with a large risk pool, any individual might have, say, a 2% chance of having a incident of a given condition but, with a risk pool of 1, the only chances are 100% or 0%.

Did you not just compare them? 

 

In both cases, the idea is to spend less buying healthcare than buying insurance. 

 

Most everyone has care available to them in their home countries, and it is often "free". In the US you have Medicare if you're 65 or older and Medicaid if you're not. If one has a few million baht, they can cover most any medical issue in Thailand, except maybe long-term care issues, in which case they would have to repatriate.

 

I like insurance, and I have always been treated fairly by them, but they are in the business of collecting premiums, not paying out claims. 

 

I "self-insure", but I have Thai SS medical and US Medicare to fall back on if need be. 

 

  

 

 

 

[jerrymahoney]

 

41 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

In both cases, the idea is to spend less buying healthcare than buying insurance. 

Most, but not all, large self-insurers also purchase some catastrophic risk coverage for their outlier cases.

 

I also have Medicare in US. But I would have to get back to USofA first before that would become a factor.

 

Personally, my finances are such that I can afford the annual premium -- a lump some cash for a reserve would not be so easy.

[Yellowtail]

19 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

 

Most, but not all, large self-insurers also purchase some catastrophic risk coverage for their outlier cases.

 

I also have Medicare in US. But I would have to get back to USofA first before that would become a factor.

 

Personally, my finances are such that I can afford the annual premium -- a lump some cash for a reserve would not be so easy.

I wish high-deductible catastrophic was available for individuals. Everything I looked at was too much money, for too little coverage. 

 

There are some pretty great, cheap hospitals here. 

 

[Ray60]

On 3/22/2023 at 9:24 AM, Yellowtail said:

I wish high-deductible catastrophic was available for individuals. Everything I looked at was too much money, for too little coverage. 

 

There are some pretty great, cheap hospitals here. 

 

agree with you, because most insurances in Thailand have increased their premiums in the past 3 years by at least 10% per annum, without claims or reaching the next age group. The excuse was increasing health care costs and Covid. If this level of increases will continue then your premium will more than double in 10 years plus increases for reaching the next age group and penalties for filing claims. When you reach 80 and you have already paid 30 years health insurance there is no way out and insurance companies will not drop their premiums due to the long term relationship, they just cover their risk. So if you have sufficient funds and you can afford to put 3-5 Mio. aside then its the much wiser decision than covering insurance in TH especially if you have the possibility to go back to Europe etc. and enjoy the national health insurance for longer term and/or expensive treatments. Not to mention that there is always a risk that certain insurance companies will just reject your claims or terminate your coverage when it gets too risky for them. What leverage to negotiate do you have when you are 80 up, except paying a crazy premium?