Healthcare Insurance

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

36 minutes ago, nofarang said:

My insurance company is MUANG THAI LIFE INSURANCE, they offer health insurance combined with life insurance. (life insurance is just a small amount, I think it is due to company regulations). I entered at 71, two years ago, inpatient premium is 135.000 Baht, i have no preexisting issues. Premium is modestly increased every five years.

 

The company was founded in 1951 and "was the first life insurance company to be appointed under the royal patronage of King Bhumibol Adulyadej", Wikipedia. Where I live, the insurance company has a very helpful English-speaking representative. Anyone interested may send me a board mail.

 

Life insurers in Thailand offer life insurance with an endorsement that adds medical coverage. Typically a significant portion of the annual premium goes towards the life insurance component of the coverage. This is fine if you want life insurance coverage, but bear in mind that life insurance tends to be fairly expensive, especially for older people.

 

The limit of liability for medical expenses under a life policy is sometimes the same as the life insurance amount, which may make getting adequate limits for medical cover expensive. What limit does your policy provide under the medical cover endorsement? 

 

There is also another catch: Thai life insurers tend to offer only whole life policies. These are life policies with a cash value. This can present issues for Americans because the cash value counts towards the aggregate $10,000 FBAR filing threshold and may therefore require reporting. Not only that, but the investment or interest income paid by the insurer on the cash value, unlike US whole life policies, is taxable income under IRS regulations. Not all life insurers provide a sufficiently detailed breakdown of investment income for a policyholder to be US tax compliant.

 

Insurance agents are often only trained to sell the product of the insurer they represent and can't give you options from other insurers. They are also the legal agent of the insurer and have fewer obligations to provide advice or to look after the interests of the policyholder than an independent broker does.