Cigna Global health insurance renewal – Now I’m getting worried .

[tomgreen]

2 hours ago, prakhonchai nick said:

I have never found the Surin hospital to which you refer as being reasonably priced, and not specially efficient.

They wanted a huge sum to remove a small skin cancer lump by my nose, and when I saw a Doctor re lower back pain, and told him there problems associated with most pain killers and the various heart meds I was taking, he eventually came up with a tablet he said was safe.  Back home my computer warned me not to touch it as it could be fatal!

 

I fortunately have insurance (amazingly capped at the same price it was when I took it out decades ago except for inflationary increases). and am able to choose better hospitals when required. For heart conditions I cannot recommend Queen Sirikit Hospital Khon Kaen highly enough

 

At close on 200,000bt/year the op might as well self-insure and if required use a local government hospital, many of which are very good. All being well, at age 80 he will have more than 1 million baht in the kitty

Thanks for your thoughts , putting the current monthly amount of Thai Baht that I pay for my Cigna private health insurance  into a Thai savings bank account , has crossed my mind . But knowing my luck the week after I cancel my Cigna private health policy and start saving the the monthly Cigna payments into a Thai savings bank account , I will have a heart attack , and then while laying on a Thai government hospital bed , the little voice inside my head will keep whispering these words ... I told you not to cancel your Cigna policy 

 

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[tomgreen]

4 hours ago, Flying Saucage said:

Just had a discussion (and renewal) with my insuring company Pacific Cross, and it was confirmed by them that for their current plans ('New Normal plans') there is no raise on an individual base after a large claim anymore. The reason I was told was that the Thai regulating body told them to stopp this policy

 

For their record of paying out, I don't have any experience yet. 

 

Generally I think it is the best to consult a good insurance broker to find the best insurance for you. Brokers are not more expensive than a direct approach to the insurance company as far as I understood (I am not sure), as with a broker only the commission assigned for the own sales staff will be redirected to the broker.

Thanks for your comment . I did originally think that using insurance brokers , would some how work out more expensive in the end

 

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[tomgreen]

1 hour ago, Scouse123 said:

 

 

Email Cigna or speak to a different agent and do some more research regards Cigna and your policy online.

 

It appears the representative you are speaking to isn't trying very hard to look for alternatives to your plight.

Thanks for your comment . The Cigna representative I've been contacting ( via email ) has never really been that helpful , they take a very long time to answer any questions that Ive emailed to them ( around a week for them to reply ) . 

 

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[scubascuba3]

26 minutes ago, tomgreen said:

Thanks for your thoughts , putting the current monthly amount of Thai Baht that I pay for my Cigna private health insurance  into a Thai savings bank account , has crossed my mind . But knowing my luck the week after I cancel my Cigna private health policy and start saving the the monthly Cigna payments into a Thai savings bank account , I will have a heart attack , and then while laying on a Thai government hospital bed , the little voice inside my head will keep whispering these words ... I told you not to cancel your Cigna policy 

 

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Ask Cigna how much the premium would cost if you were 80? (of course when you actually get to 80 it will be higher than that) if that's definitely unaffordable then you may need to self insure sooner or later

[tomgreen]

13 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Ask Cigna how much the premium would cost if you were 80? (of course when you actually get to 80 it will be higher than that) if that's definitely unaffordable then you may need to self insure sooner or later

 Currently it takes about a week for the Cigna representative to answer any of my questions via email , the self insuring ( saving the original monthly Cigna cost ) due to the yearly health insurance premium increase , looks like its going to be the option I have to take at some time.   Its just biting the bullet and pulling the trigger thats the worrying part .

 

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[simon43]

You do not need to return and live in the UK for a few months to 'restart' your UK state pension at the current rate.  You can relocate to the Philippines for that time period because the Philippines is within the UK state pension agreement on not freezing pensions, (so just like EU countries).  Move to the Philippines, open a bank account, rent an apartment with rental contract, inform the UK state pension overseas office that you now live in the Philippines, provide evidence of this (bank account, utility bill in your name etc), and your state pension should be restarted at the current amount.  After that, move back to Thailand :)

[tomgreen]

9 minutes ago, simon43 said:

You do not need to return and live in the UK for a few months to 'restart' your UK state pension at the current rate.  You can relocate to the Philippines for that time period because the Philippines is within the UK state pension agreement on not freezing pensions, (so just like EU countries).  Move to the Philippines, open a bank account, rent an apartment with rental contract, inform the UK state pension overseas office that you now live in the Philippines, provide evidence of this (bank account, utility bill in your name etc), and your state pension should be restarted at the current amount.  After that, move back to Thailand :)

Many thanks , I never knew about that , its given me some thing to think about 

 

Thanks 

 

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[expat_4_life]

2 hours ago, tomgreen said:

the self insuring ( saving the original monthly Cigna cost ) due to the yearly health insurance premium increase , looks like its going to be the option I have to take at some time.   Its just biting the bullet and pulling the trigger thats the worrying part

 

If you somehow see cancelling as inevitable, then I would suggest the sooner the better.
The older you get the higher the risk of making such a decision becomes as our health becomes more fragile.  At least you could be banking some premiums while your health is still good.

[CanadaSam]

OP, my suggestion is to seek out a reputable insurance broker at the earliest and get options for yourself to consider.

[Njoku]

I went through Pacific Cross and originally had a Cigna policy, 3M cover, it changed to Chubb during that year, after the first year there was a steep jump in premium so I asked Pacific Cross for alternatives, they came up with CHUBB SIGNATURE CARE PLAN, I took the 700,000 cover per year plan, yes a bit low but I hope I die before I get very sick, life has been kind to me so I recon im ok on this, for your age your looking under 60,000 a year, better than having nothing, suggest you get in touch with Pacific Cross....not Chubb, the office isn't working to well at the moment, just had a cataract procedure, the hospital tried to make a claim on my behalf but it was rejected, phoned them to find out why they said they would get back to me, took a second phone call to get yes your covered but you the patient is expected to pay the hospital bill and then make a claim, good luck.

[Presnock]

On 1/10/2024 at 1:12 PM, tomgreen said:

Hi and thanks for your comment , can I ask who your health insurance policy is with.

 

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fepblue (blue cross blue shield)  They cover me even though I live overseas.  I read an article this morning on the very subject - a large number of people in the US now are not getting medical care when needed as they decide to eat instead.  The primary  Pha reason is he increases by the hospitals for treatment and doctors' fees increases.  You all are aware that the pharma industry also affects prices of medicines - go figure, we are getting warnings about the COVID vaccines causing even more long term health problems while the Pfizer got a court to award a charge against any scientist/doctor reading their testing results prior to the approval by the FDA.  To possibly really upset one, google billionaires created during the pandemic, within and without the pharma industry.  In my opinion all a bunch of crooks - mankind is possessed by GREED..totally EVIL.

 

 

On 1/10/2024 at 1:12 PM, tomgreen said:

Hi and thanks for your comment , can I ask who your health insurance policy is with.

 

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[brewsterbudgen]

@tomgreen This is an interesting thread - do you have an update?  Did Cigna come up with an acceptable/affordable plan?