Health Insurance & Health Care Costs In Thailand

[WaiWai]

Hope he was not stung too much

Just got out myself

1 day in ICU cost me 20K

It is getting a bit expensive to stay alive here in Thailand

That is over 400k so far this year

(quote from a thread in Health forum about someone hositalized with Dengue fever)

I have been thinking recently that I may need to check & consider extending the health insurance I currently hold, given the costs I sometimes hear about for hospital care. Any of us might suddenly come down with a bad dose of Dengue or some other ailment which puts us into hospital.

(Also need to catch up with the situation in my home country, Australia, if I should need any care there/return to live there.)

One of the plus sides of Thailand used to be/still is (?) availability of reasonable health care at reasonable costs. Is this still the case?

Have others been thinking about this, too?

[TerryLH]

In my opinion reasonable reasonably priced health care is available here.

Check out the list of sponsors at the top of the page for (more) insurance.

[citizen33]

In my opinion reasonable reasonably priced health care is available here.

Check out the list of sponsors at the top of the page for (more) insurance.

An acquaintance who works in the Thai health care sector (I'm being deliberately imprecise) gave a talk recently when he argued that the loss ratio (also known as loading) in Thailand is less favourable to members with private health insurance than in most countries. This means in plain terms that the percentage of premiums paid out as member benefits is lower than it might be. I can't remember what source he gave for this assertion. Does anybody know whether he was right?

[barryofthailand]

Bupa is an excellent company in Thailand. Depending on your age, if insured by age 59 they will insure you for life.

Barry

[ricardofel]

BUPA...yeah I have BUPA for myself, wife and baby...last year...60,000 baht...this year (I turned 61, we have never had any claims for 2 years)...76,000 baht after the 10% discount.

Bupa is an excellent company in Thailand. Depending on your age, if insured by age 59 they will insure you for life.

Barry

[zippydedodah]

BUPA...yeah I have BUPA for myself, wife and baby...last year...60,000 baht...this year (I turned 61, we have never had any claims for 2 years)...76,000 baht after the 10% discount.

Bupa is an excellent company in Thailand. Depending on your age, if insured by age 59 they will insure you for life.

Barry

Yah... but if you don't apply before 60 and have pre-conditions... you can easily end up un-insurable... period. I got LMG for wife and kid for 49000 baht a year and it should be good coverage.... but for me.....

I worked with the folks here at Thai Visa, and they have been doing a lot of hard work for me.... BUT, i have been declined by BUPA and LMG for PRE hypertension and PRE diabetes. What a scam. 20 yrs ago these diagnosis did not even exist.... but i digress.....

They would not even do exclusions.... so i would be very interested in hearing from folks who say... "you can get insurance, they will just do an exclusion for the pre-conditions". If such companies exist, why aren't the folks from Thai Visa offering them?

I can get "Patriot" insurance from here in USA, which will not require medical exam and not cover any pre-conditions. Would cover me if i got hit in the road, got a dose of Dengue, or any other problem... just nothing related to my pre-conditions. But i have to pay all bills up front, then send to USA company for reimbursement. And it costs $1900 USD per year

I would welcome a thai company reference that would simply "exclude" my pre-conditions.

Zippy

Edited July 23, 2009 by zippydedodah

[zippydedodah]

sorry...deleted double post

Edited July 23, 2009 by zippydedodah