Aia Insurance

[ThaivisaInsurance]

Amateur Insurance Agents ( AIA )

Very true what you're saying and not just AIA, many of them are just AMATEURS or shall I say ruthless businesses. You see those glossy brochures with "we care" crap. All bull.

I am with Premier now. Fingers crossed. Hope they deliver what is in the policy wording, especially if you forked out 78,000 Baht for the yearly premium. LMG I heard offers something quality also, 100% full coverage, I think for around 40k but IPD only though. Anyone insured through LMG?

To OP,

If you don't mind me asking; how much did you pay for the insurance?

LMG are a good company and are on the Thai Visa Insurance approved list.

Please note they do offer everything – IPD and OPD – however you can choose to opt out of the OPD if you wish.

I was in the LMG office yesterday to renew my auto insurance and asked about health insurance and the girl didn't have any information/brochures in English. She called Bangkok and they told her they don't have any information in English !!! I also tried their websites and when clicking on "English" nothing happens...I've heard from others that they have good & thorough health policies but HOW to get information???? .....and as far as AIA is concerned, they can kiss my &*#@. I signed up with them through a neighbor friend then after about a month I was informed that they don't insure "farangs" for accident insurance.

I called several times to the main office in Bkk to find out WHY and no one could tell me anything....they suck bigtime...and by the way, AIA Thailand has 85 Billion Baht in assets.(do a google search of AIA Thailand if you need "source".

From the sound of it you were in a LMG office but the office was not on the medical side - just house, motor etc ? For all information on the LMG medical (and a quote online) please go HERE

[jazzbo]

Another company i can recommend wery highly is: [reason for edit url removed]

so which one is that?

May we suggest etc., etc., ...

[jfchandler]

Here's the rates and discounts info from LMG's 2010 health insurance policies brochure....

Re the question about paying premiums, I've always paid my LMG premiums one year at a time...to avoid extra charges...

I believe they allow half yearly payments, I'm not sure about monthly. But there certainly would be extra charges for doing that. Best thing for dealing with LMG is to deal through a quality Thai insurance broker.

[jfchandler]

could I trouble you to PM your brokers contact info?

Responded to your post via PM....

[jfchandler]

Here's the detail of the two different LMG health insurance policy options....to go with their rates info I posted above...

[JRinger]

Thaivisa Insurance

From the sound of it you were in a LMG office but the office was not on the medical side - just house, motor etc ? For all information on the LMG medical (and a quote online) please go HERE

Thaivisa Insurance

The above link "HERE" to Thaivisa Insurance asks for a lot of personal information and isn't a secure site so I'm reluctant to use it.

Edited October 30, 2010 by JRinger

[JRinger]

Here's the detail of the two different LMG health insurance policy options....to go with their rates info I posted above...

thanks much for the information :jap:

[jazzbo]

That 20 million baht lifetime maximum on the LMG Maxi Care is a potential disaster if you were to ever actually get real sick ...BUPA Platinum e.g. has no lifetime maximum; only 5 million baht per incident.

Edited October 30, 2010 by jazzbo

[jfchandler]

Jazzy, that's a good point (lifetime coverage limits) to consider, though 20 million baht would go a long way in covering Thai medical expenses...

But if someone felt they needed a higher level of coverage, LMG also has their more expensive Ultra Care plan with 20 million per disability and 80 million baht lifetime.... (details provided in the image documents I posted above).

BUPA also has several levels of coverage..with corresponding pricing.

When I made my selection, I sat down and compared those two companies' plans side by side, looking at what they covered (and didn't) and how much it would cost... Also, issues of guaranteed renewability as one gets older, and the claims experience of customers of both companies.... (as reflected in experiences posted here on ThaiVisa).

When I made my decisions, my insurance broker provided me with complete quotations and policy details for BUPA, LMG, AXA and a few others.... But I found it pays to do some checking on your own first, to narrow the field of what companies and level of policies one wants to consider....

This is a good web site that provides a lot of info and allows once to narrow the field a bit...

Edited October 30, 2010 by bazmlb
link to commercial site removed

[bazmlb]

That 20 million baht lifetime maximum on the LMG Maxi Care is a potential disaster if you were to ever actually get real sick ...BUPA Platinum e.g. has no lifetime maximum; only 5 million baht per incident.

It all depends on what you are looking for in a policy, LMG has the benefits of being able to reduce the premium by excluding OPD which drops the price 20%, if you take a 100,000 baht deductible then you get a further 32.5% off, which makes BUPA nearly twice the price, but you get the extra benefits with Bupa of having the 5 million per incident.

For example, If I took the LMG plan with the discounts it would go from 44,125 baht down to 27,357.50 baht per year compare to Bupa at 38,477 baht for the Platinum 5 million baht coverage.

This is where its best to compare them all benefit for benefit and get the best your budget can afford, which having a broker can make it a lot easier as they can let you know up front which companies will cover any pre-existing conditions you may have and recommend the best cover for you or a choice of plans at no extra cost than going direct.

[jfchandler]

Good advice....

This is where its best to compare them all benefit for benefit and get the best your budget can afford, which having a broker can make it a lot easier as they can let you know up front which companies will cover any pre-existing conditions you may have and recommend the best cover for you or a choice of plans at no extra cost than going direct.

Edited October 30, 2010 by jfchandler

[jazzbo]

It all depends on what you are looking for in a policy ... If one is looking for something in a policy other than how that policy would cover the type of illnesses / accidents that have a reasonable chance of occurrence and also those outlier situations which would be classified as 'catastrophic', then one has a very mis-guided view of why one buys health insurance in the first place...

Many if not all of the Thai market insurer principals represented by any health insurance broker have extensive in-house customer service groups -- given the cost of such units they very well make make more money not less when someone is represented by a broker ... why would they do this if the best of all possible worlds is when the insurance customer is represented by a broker?

... and these repetitive arguments as to why it is always best to use a broker -- i.e. we know more than you -- may be disingenuous as the broker always has his own vested interests at hand ... and of these you will never hear... and the hospital insurance office both before and after admittance can often be just as good if not a better advocate for your interests than a broker ...

... and nobody including the insurance company underwriters themselves can tell you which conditions they may cover and which they may exclude until you actually submit the application with all requisite medical history and records.

Edited October 30, 2010 by jazzbo

[jfchandler]

Jazzy, the rate sheet info I posted above for LMG was from their own company's brochure/publication, not something prepared or printed by my insurance broker...

And those are the same exact rates I'm getting on my health insurance policy thru my broker. The only difference is, I have a very easy time dealing with my broker who is Thai but speaks excellent English, and she and her company will deal with LMG on my behalf if there ever is a problem, as occurred in the one case I described above, where my broker ended up chipping in with their own money to reimburse me...

I've never dealt with LMG directly or tried to... But if someone is getting lower rates than those published by the company itself in its own materials by dealing direct with LMG, then I'd certainly like to hear about it....

[bazmlb]

Jazzy, the rate sheet info I posted above for LMG was from their own company's brochure/publication, not something prepared or printed by my insurance broker...

And those are the same exact rates I'm getting on my health insurance policy thru my broker. The only difference is, I have a very easy time dealing with my broker who is Thai but speaks excellent English, and she and her company will deal with LMG on my behalf if there ever is a problem, as occurred in the one case I described above, where my broker ended up chipping in with their own money to reimburse me...

I've never dealt with LMG directly or tried to... But if someone is getting lower rates than those published by the company itself in its own materials by dealing direct with LMG, then I'd certainly like to hear about it....

The discounts that are being offered are by LMG themselves, available either directly from LMG or via a broker, if your broker isnt making you aware of them, then I suggest you ask why? is it because they want a bigger commission on a full policy rather than you getting the discounts that are available. Attached is the current LMG brochure page showing these discounts.

[jazzbo]

I do not believe I said a word about rates ... only about coverages and probabilistic expectations ... A broker's primary function is not to negotiate rates no more than a flight attendant's primary function is to serve drinks -- and in high-stress claim situations a broker can be a god-send and can also be a total pain-in the --ss...

[mca]

I signed up with them through a neighbor friend then after about a month I was informed that they don't insure "farangs" for accident insurance.

They certainly do. My accident policy is with them.

Edited October 30, 2010 by mca

[jfchandler]

Bazmlb, I believe I already posted that same exact document from LMG just a bit earlier in this thread...

I certainly am aware of all of LMG's advertised discounts....and my broker has made me aware of them...

But in my case, I choose to have OPD coverage, and I choose to have a no-deductible policy... The lowest deductible level LMG offers is 40,000 baht for the policy year, and I've rarely had much more than that in total medical expenditures for the year. So it really wouldn't make sense for me to pay a 40,000 baht annual premium, and then get no reimbursement due to a 40,000 baht deductible

Fortunately in my case, at least thru the present, I've never had an inpatient hospital day in my entire life, and I'm hoping to keep it that way... I do, however, use the outpatient coverage from time to time...

In the case of LMG, the added cost of including outpatient coverage is relatively small compared to the larger cost of their inpatient coverage. Each year at renewal time, I get a recap of my policy payments by LMG for the preceding year, and the amounts covered for OPD have always exceeded the additional premium I've paid to add OPD coverage...

Needless to say, I keep the IPD (inpatient coverage) as insurance and a financial safeguard. But fortunately, as yet, I've never had to rely on it.

I believe LMG also offers a 5% premium discount to existing policy holders who don''t make any claim in the preceding year. I had that discount in one year, but not in the other two.

Jazzy, the rate sheet info I posted above for LMG was from their own company's brochure/publication, not something prepared or printed by my insurance broker...

And those are the same exact rates I'm getting on my health insurance policy thru my broker. The only difference is, I have a very easy time dealing with my broker who is Thai but speaks excellent English, and she and her company will deal with LMG on my behalf if there ever is a problem, as occurred in the one case I described above, where my broker ended up chipping in with their own money to reimburse me...

I've never dealt with LMG directly or tried to... But if someone is getting lower rates than those published by the company itself in its own materials by dealing direct with LMG, then I'd certainly like to hear about it....

The discounts that are being offered are by LMG themselves, available either directly from LMG or via a broker, if your broker isnt making you aware of them, then I suggest you ask why? is it because they want a bigger commission on a full policy rather than you getting the discounts that are available. Attached is the current LMG brochure page showing these discounts.

[JRinger]

I signed up with them through a neighbor friend then after about a month I was informed that they don't insure "farangs" for accident insurance.

They certainly do. My accident policy is with them.

They certainly don't, from where I'm sitting.

could it be a "new" policy with them?

I spoke to people at their main office in Bkk and "no Americans", maybe other countries are ok, although I'm glad they did reject me with all the negative posts about them and I also got the feeling from them that they're so big they don't care about new clients.

Edited October 30, 2010 by JRinger

[jfchandler]

Jazzy, your post below certainly seems to suggest that a customer dealing with an insurance broker is going to somehow pay a higher premium, though I'll acknowledge you didn't come out and say that explicitly....

And really, are you seriously suggesting that a patient/customer should expect a Thai hospital's insurance office to be a consumer advocate on their behalf??? More often than not, I'd suspect most hospital's insurance offices are out to charge the insurance company and/or patient as much as they possibly can get away with.... That's just about the last place I'd want to turn for someone to look out for my best interests...

I know my broker gets a cut of my premium from my insurance company. But my broker is also the one who does all the policy and customer service in connection with my policy. So I certainly don't begrudge them that... And, as far as I'm aware, for gaining that benefit, I'm paying exactly the same premium as someone who obtained their policy direct from LMG....if they even do that for medical insurance.

And I can guarantee you, I get treated a whole lot better by my insurance broker, any time I have a question or a concern, than I would if I was dealing direct with some Thai customer service rep at one of the insurance companies.

Many if not all of the Thai market insurer principals represented by any health insurance broker have extensive in-house customer service groups -- given the cost of such units they very well make make more money not less when someone is represented by a broker ... why would they do this if the best of all possible worlds is when the insurance customer is represented by a broker?

... and these repetitive arguments as to why it is always best to use a broker -- i.e. we know more than you -- may be disingenuous as the broker always has his own vested interests at hand ... and of these you will never hear... and the hospital insurance office both before and after admittance can often be just as good if not a better advocate for your interests than a broker ...

... and nobody including the insurance company underwriters themselves can tell you which conditions they may cover and which they may exclude until you actually submit the application with all requisite medical history and records.

[bazmlb]

Bazmlb, I believe I already posted that same exact document from LMG just a bit earlier in this thread...

I certainly am aware of all of LMG's advertised discounts....and my broker has made me aware of them...

But in my case, I choose to have OPD coverage, and I choose to have a no-deductible policy... The lowest deductible level LMG offers is 40,000 baht for the policy year, and I've rarely had much more than that in total medical expenditures for the year. So it really wouldn't make sense for me to pay a 40,000 baht annual premium, and then get no reimbursement due to a 40,000 baht deductible

Fortunately in my case, at least thru the present, I've never had an inpatient hospital day in my entire life, and I'm hoping to keep it that way... I do, however, use the outpatient coverage from time to time...

In the case of LMG, the added cost of including outpatient coverage is relatively small compared to the larger cost of their inpatient coverage. Each year at renewal time, I get a recap of my policy payments by LMG for the preceding year, and the amounts covered for OPD have always exceeded the additional premium I've paid to add OPD coverage...

Needless to say, I keep the IPD (inpatient coverage) as insurance and a financial safeguard. But fortunately, as yet, I've never had to rely on it.

I believe LMG also offers a 5% premium discount to existing policy holders who don''t make any claim in the preceding year. I had that discount in one year, but not in the other two.

Jazzy, the rate sheet info I posted above for LMG was from their own company's brochure/publication, not something prepared or printed by my insurance broker...

And those are the same exact rates I'm getting on my health insurance policy thru my broker. The only difference is, I have a very easy time dealing with my broker who is Thai but speaks excellent English, and she and her company will deal with LMG on my behalf if there ever is a problem, as occurred in the one case I described above, where my broker ended up chipping in with their own money to reimburse me...

I've never dealt with LMG directly or tried to... But if someone is getting lower rates than those published by the company itself in its own materials by dealing direct with LMG, then I'd certainly like to hear about it....

The discounts that are being offered are by LMG themselves, available either directly from LMG or via a broker, if your broker isnt making you aware of them, then I suggest you ask why? is it because they want a bigger commission on a full policy rather than you getting the discounts that are available. Attached is the current LMG brochure page showing these discounts.

Thats great to know, 5% for no claims, I already have a basic policy with Thai Health, now I want a policy to cover larger stuff, hence taking the 100,000 baht deductible works for me, looking at the OPD coverages they are very low and I am happy to pay them out of pocket, the IPD policies do cover emergency OPD and followup OPD after IPD treatment. So for simple stuff I just go to my GP rather than a hospital.

As you can see there are many options and having a broker to assist in questions is very helpful.

[mca]

I signed up with them through a neighbor friend then after about a month I was informed that they don't insure "farangs" for accident insurance.

They certainly do. My accident policy is with them.

They certainly don't, from where I'm sitting.

could it be a "new" policy with them?

I spoke to people at their main office in Bkk and "no Americans", maybe other countries are ok, although I'm glad they did reject me with all the negative posts about them and I also got the feeling from them that they're so big they don't care about new clients.

Not a new policy. Just renewed it. AIA Privilege Care - Platinum. Ultimate 1 plan. The card I carry in my wallet is sitting in front of me as I type.

[JRinger]

I signed up with them through a neighbor friend then after about a month I was informed that they don't insure "farangs" for accident insurance.

They certainly do. My accident policy is with them.

They certainly don't, from where I'm sitting.

could it be a "new" policy with them?

I spoke to people at their main office in Bkk and "no Americans", maybe other countries are ok, although I'm glad they did reject me with all the negative posts about them and I also got the feeling from them that they're so big they don't care about new clients.

Not a new policy. Just renewed it. AIA Privilege Care - Platinum. Ultimate 1 plan. The card I carry in my wallet is sitting in front of me as I type.

Could it be that you have a "medical" and not "accident" policy?

and if it is an "accident" policy you have is just further proof of how screwed up they are or as mentioned already, it's possibly a "new" policy of AIA's. In any case, they did turn me down with no explanation whatsoever. by the way, have you had any issues with them ? Several other members certainly have (read previous posts).

Edited October 30, 2010 by JRinger

[jazzbo]

i have never suggested that there is any price differential between using a broker and going direct ... I have also never suggested to anyone that they should not use a broker ... once the medical staff of an insurer-approved hospital has decided that you need surgery or admittance the hospital customer-service and insurance offices -- who maybe work with your insurer a hundred times per day -- in my personal experience can definitely be your advocate...

... and although I believe all the information provided on this forum as to why one should always use a broker is presented in good faith, as it comes from a broker one can hardly considered it a dis-interested opinion.

[jfchandler]

I understand your point, particularly as regards to using one particular broker in this particular venue...

... and although I believe all the information provided on this forum as to why one should always use a broker is presented in good faith, as it comes from a broker one can hardly considered it a dis-interested opinion.

[mca]

Could it be that you have a "medical" and not "accident" policy?

and if it is an "accident" policy you have is just further proof of how screwed up they are or as mentioned already, it's possibly a "new" policy of AIA's. In any case, they did turn me down with no explanation whatsoever. by the way, have you had any issues with them ? Several other members certainly have (read previous posts).

It's an accident policy because unfortunately I've got a hereditary medical problem which means that no insurance company will touch me for medical care.

I've got no complaints about the cover up to now. I had a minor spill at home which resulted in a trip to the hospital and they settled the bill in full. No questions asked.

[JRinger]

Could it be that you have a "medical" and not "accident" policy?

and if it is an "accident" policy you have is just further proof of how screwed up they are or as mentioned already, it's possibly a "new" policy of AIA's. In any case, they did turn me down with no explanation whatsoever. by the way, have you had any issues with them ? Several other members certainly have (read previous posts).

It's an accident policy because unfortunately I've got a hereditary medical problem which means that no insurance company will touch me for medical care.

I've got no complaints about the cover up to now. I had a minor spill at home which resulted in a trip to the hospital and they settled the bill in full. No questions asked.

Then obviously it's a new AIA policy not to insure "Americans". (AIA = American Insurance Association)

[mca]

Must be. I've renewed this policy a number of times. Filled in the form, paid the premium, that's it.

[JRinger]

Must be. I've renewed this policy a number of times. Filled in the form, paid the premium, that's it.

Do you use a broker or direct with AIA ? If a broker, maybe you can ask him/her about this the next time you talk to them....

[ozsamurai]

Another saved customer here! I'm looking for my family, and AIA was on the list, as I had used them in Japan (never claimed).... they're off now, thanks!

Oz

[Bonio]

I was speaking with a Rep from AIA this afternoon.

There is definitely a disclaimer of some sort regarding Americans. It was the only part of the form written in english and, altho' I did not read all the content, it seemed to be saying that AIA Thai Healthcare policies are not available to American citizens.