Question for April International (France) Policyholders

[Richard007]

Sheryl, that’s super helpful information.  Thanks so much for taking the time to type all this up.  

[scubascuba3]

3 hours ago, mania said:

I wonder about the problem of not even having a say in which hospital your taken to if its an emergency?

Many times the ambulance is going to a certain hospital for various reasons. Proximity/agreement etc

You may or may not even be conscious

In Pattaya most falang are taken to Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, maybe they pay the most but also have the best private facilities and experience, i doubt Memorial or Int'l or Pattaya City can handle major emergencies

 

 

 

[Tropicalevo]

Deleted

Edited September 13, 2023 by Tropicalevo

[Tropicalevo]

5 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

In Pattaya most falang are taken to Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, maybe they pay the most but also have the best private facilities and experience, i doubt Memorial or Int'l or Pattaya City can handle major emergencies

 

 

 

It is similar here on Samui.

Most hospitals have 'helicopter' doctors, coming for scheduled surgeries.

Bangkok Samui has a number permanently based here on a rota system. Often from the government hospital here.

[Sheryl]

6 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

In Pattaya most falang are taken to Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, maybe they pay the most but also have the best private facilities and experience, i doubt Memorial or Int'l or Pattaya City can handle major emergencies

 

 

 

Unfortunately I know cases where serious injuries needing highly specialized care were brought to Pattaya City Hospital despite it lacking the necessary capacities.

 

By the way Pattaya City costs these days aren't much less than BPH. 

[scubascuba3]

33 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Unfortunately I know cases where serious injuries needing highly specialized care were brought to Pattaya City Hospital despite it lacking the necessary capacities.

 

By the way Pattaya City costs these days aren't much less than BPH. 

I went to Pattaya City Emergency when i had a dog bite, for rabies injections, i wanted to check out the A&E area, it seemed very quiet, sleepy and best avoided. I'd expect Bang Lamung to at least have good experience and be relatively busy and being govt, probably average facilities

[818Pilot]

11 hours ago, Richard007 said:

818pilot, thanks for sharing that information.  That website falls under the “Corporate” tab not the “Individuals” tab.  I wonder if the same networks apply to the Individual plans?

 

 

Just curious, did you ever have a large hospitalization claim with April (i.e. >$2,000)?  If so, which hospital was it and did April hit you with a 20% deductible?

 

Hi Richard007, you're welcome and I also noticed that it was under the corporate tab. I guess I figured if it applied there then it would apply to individuals too (Might be a bad assumption on my part). 

 

I just recently moved here, so like you, I'm looking for a policy that's not Thai backed and offers good coverage. I'm 57 and a local agent offered April/LMG thai policy with 3.5m Bhat coverage at around 87k bhat a year, which i didn't think was bad until I had him put in what it would cost me at 60 since rate increases are every 5 years here. The increase went to about 120k bhat a year, which then made me consider either Cigna Global or Aprils international (France) policy. Medical is so much cheaper here then in the US, but I recently had a motorcycle accident in Los Angeles that put me in the hospital at Cedars for 10 days and my US bill is already over 600k USD. While my US insurance will never pay that amount, it got me thinking if some did happen here that was serious, would 3.5m Bhat really be enough.

[Richard007]

Hi 818Pilot, 3.5m baht is not nearly enough for me to feel comfortable.  What if you are in a serious accident, let’s say a hit and run where you can’t collect from the other driver, and then you are then put in the ICU for a month or two or three?  I can imagine the costs could end up much higher than 3.5m.  Also, I would bet some cancer cases could run up a bill much higher than that, depending on which medications/treatments are involved. 

In addition to lower age-based inflation on premiums and a better legal/regulatory environment, I like that the US and EU issued policies have much higher upper limits on coverage than the Thai policies.  This is important to me since I also plan to travel to other countries where medical expenses run higher than Thailand.  I am looking at a minimum of USD $1 million coverage to feel comfortable, and going from $500K to $1 million coverage does not increase the premium that much because few people rack up medical expenses above $500K in one year.  I am willing to spend a little more for the peace of mind.

[timoti]

For the network thing I was told the same by AA World that you have to use the app to find the hospital and see if it's listed there, even for Thailand. If the hospital is not listed, then I believe you will pay that percentage listed. I don't remember the actual amount.

 

AA World gets its info from April so I think it should be correct.