Cost and cover of medical insurance at an old age

[KUGS]

After a whole work life being covered by European public health care and travel insurence.
Getting medically insured at 65 could be expensive, getting more expensive as years pass before denyal to renew, should one get very old. There would possibly or probably be exclusions due to your medical history. Would an insurer find loopholes when the insurance is needed and what will happen to fees and coverage once the insurence has been used?
Health care are quite cheep in Thailand. Is there an age and an amount of money in the bank that would make more sense than going for insurence?
Any thoughts?
Getting out of bed in the morning is a risk????

[KannikaP]

5 minutes ago, KUGS said:

should one get very old.

WHEN one, hopefully, get to an advanced age, not VERY old.

What would you class as VERY old?

[KUGS]

3 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

WHEN one, hopefully, get to an advanced age, not VERY old.

What would you class as VERY old?

When the insurance company does not want you as a customer anymore.

[1FinickyOne]

I self insure. I think the last thing I would want if I had a medical issue would be to be fighting w/an insurer.

 

And if I was the insurer, the last thing I would want would be an elderly insuree

[KUGS]

11 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

I self insure. I think the last thing I would want if I had a medical issue would be to be fighting w/an insurer.

 

And if I was the insurer, the last thing I would want would be an elderly insuree

Is there a minimum reserved amount of THB you would be comfortable with after 65?

[bkk6060]

Can't answer the question unless you go to a broker and explain your history.  They will greatly raise the rates based upon pre-existing and even then, will likely list issues they will not cover at all.

The "self insured" from my experience have very little assets to cover something major.  2 million baht would be a good starting point, most have much less.

So, the goal should try and stay as healthy as possible.

One thing I do suggest is to get a good accident policy.  Accidents of various types are very common here so at least get coverage for that.

[1FinickyOne]

38 minutes ago, KUGS said:

Is there a minimum reserved amount of THB you would be comfortable with after 65?

interesting question - - I have recently heard people say 3-4 million baht... personally, I don't think that would do it, things medical are definitely getting more expensive... but w/money, everyone has their own comfort level. People do get by on less, I am sure. 

[1FinickyOne]

19 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

The "self insured" from my experience have very little assets to cover something major.

That is called uninsured, not self insured. 

[KUGS]

2 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Can't answer the question unless you go to a broker and explain your history.  They will greatly raise the rates based upon pre-existing and even then, will likely list issues they will not cover at all.

The "self insured" from my experience have very little assets to cover something major.  2 million baht

would be a good starting point, most have much less.

So, the goal should try and stay as healthy as possible.

One thing I do suggest is to get a good accident policy.  Accidents of various types are very common here so at least get coverage for that.

Thanks, I was in touch with brokers at the age of 55 and found the underwriting teams ridiculously and unreasonable careful, and I am also not sure that I can trust the brokers in their interpretation of the underwriting team’s wordings. 
 

Can I ask you how much cover you would be comfortable with in a medical insurance as a Bangkok resident?

[danferguson]

I would think that the 2/3/4 million baht numbers suggested above are seriously low.

I was getting quotes for 10-20 times that when I last looked.

A one off accident, a few days in hospital, that will be fine.

But how about cancer, chemotherapy, other long term chronic conditions??

 

One other point. You need to budget for your premiums going up by 15-20% per year when you get into your 60's

[4MyEgo]

On 8/15/2023 at 10:13 PM, KUGS said:

Is there an age and an amount of money in the bank that would make more sense than going for insurence?

60 years and up, 3 mil baht as a minimum, up to 10 mil baht as a backup and you should be fine.

[Adumbration]

19 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

60 years and up, 3 mil baht as a minimum, up to 10 mil baht as a backup and you should be fine.

Accident insurance (AXA) for unforseen events. 

For surgeries go to New Dehli or Calcutta and for chronic and terminal illness go back to your county of origin.  

 

Sheryl will provide the only advice worth listening to when she posts on this thread.

[DrPhibes]

On 8/21/2023 at 2:26 PM, Adumbration said:

Accident insurance (AXA) for unforseen events. 

For surgeries go to New Dehli or Calcutta and for chronic and terminal illness go back to your county of origin.  

 

Sheryl will provide the only advice worth listening to when she posts on this thread.

Thanks for the tip.  Really only looking for catastrophic insurance, I can take care of the rest out of pocket.  Anything chronic or not time critical I can go back to the US and use Medicare.

[KUGS]

On 8/21/2023 at 9:26 AM, Adumbration said:

Accident insurance (AXA) for unforseen events. 

For surgeries go to New Dehli or Calcutta and for chronic and terminal illness go back to your county of origin.  

 

Sheryl will provide the only advice worth listening to when she posts on this thread.

Looks reasonable but it might be hard leaving wife and daughter behind in Thailand after becoming chronic and terminal ill.

[scorecard]

On 8/15/2023 at 7:22 PM, KUGS said:

When the insurance company does not want you as a customer anymore.

And that varies, I researched this about 1 year back. Every company I checked had a max age, usually 79 years old, some much younger. After the max age they won't continue the policy.

 

Also some won't allow you to start a policy, (first time) if your over 45 years old. Grim.

 

Another variation, 6 months back a farang friend in Pattaya took a policy for the first time, from a famous global company. He was 78 years old, their max age is 79. Different to other companies they agreed to give him a policy for 1 year, then cannot be renewed. Lowest level of cover, 134,000Baht for 1 year. He paid it. 

 

All the more reason to do solid research and re-check it regulalry on what's available from Thai Gov't hospitals.

 

And it's not standard, it varies quite a bit from hospital to hospital and some gov't hospitals give discounts if you're a member of aligned organizations.

 

Call and ask see what's available.

 

And don't believe that there's always a 2 or 3 hour wait to see a dr., etc., at gov't hospitals, usually way better than that.

 

My most recent visit (A semi-private hospital which accepts older folks holding an array of cards. They accepted me in a seperate close to free category because I was over 70 years old.  I waited 15 minutes then saw a pleasant throrough dr., he spoke good English.  

 

Check it out, doesn't take much effort...

[KUGS]

12 hours ago, scorecard said:

And that varies, I researched this about 1 year back. Every company I checked had a max age, usually 79 years old, some much younger. After the max age they won't continue the policy.

 

Also some won't allow you to start a policy, (first time) if your over 45 years old. Grim.

 

Another variation, 6 months back a farang friend in Pattaya took a policy for the first time, from a famous global company. He was 78 years old, their max age is 79. Different to other companies they agreed to give him a policy for 1 year, then cannot be renewed. Lowest level of cover, 134,000Baht for 1 year. He paid it. 

 

All the more reason to do solid research and re-check it regulalry on what's available from Thai Gov't hospitals.

 

And it's not standard, it varies quite a bit from hospital to hospital and some gov't hospitals give discounts if you're a member of aligned organizations.

 

Call and ask see what's available.

 

And don't believe that there's always a 2 or 3 hour wait to see a dr., etc., at gov't hospitals, usually way better than that.

 

My most recent visit (A semi-private hospital which accepts older folks holding an array of cards. They accepted me in a seperate close to free category because I was over 70 years old.  I waited 15 minutes then saw a pleasant throrough dr., he spoke good English.  

 

Check it out, doesn't take much effort...

Thanks for your input????