The Grand Expat Health Insurance Poll

[bbradsby]

...Excellent coverage for three 60 year-olds in Thailand is available for a lot less than $900 per month let alone your health family... maybe you should re-assess your coverage.

My insurance at US $900 at present is for Stateside coverage. I've gone through in-patient overnight stay procedures at one of the best expat hospitals in BKK, paying cash - and it was equal credentials, better facilities, better service, private room, better attitudes all 'round, better looking nurses and more of them taking care of me, as compared to my comparable experiences in the San Francisco Bay Area hospitals. Much cheaper!

So if I put one years' worth of premiums in a CD or similar, and add monthly contributions, I should be golden very soon. Possibly a catastrophic coverage (high deductible) policy here in LOS until a threshold balance is achieved would be advisable.

-bruce

[jazzbo]

Once again ... there are many who not only are 'golden' and have in cash exceeding what you call a 'threshold balance' but could donate a new wing to the hospital and they still buy health insurance as they see it as a prudent deal -- as you will often hear here -- up to you

... there is always the random possibility especially with a wife and son that 'very soon' is not soon enough ...

BTW it is my personal opinion that purchasing out-patient coverage in Thailand is silly given the cost of treatment -- you are just 'swapping dollars' with the insurer. I purchase in-patient coverage only in Thailand and it has served me well.

[samran]

Once again ... there are many who not only are 'golden' and have in cash exceeding what you call a 'threshold balance' but could donate a new wing to the hospital and they still buy health insurance as they see it as a prudent deal -- as you will often hear here -- up to you

... there is always the random possibility especially with a wife and son that 'very soon' is not soon enough ...

BTW it is my personal opinion that purchasing out-patient coverage in Thailand is silly given the cost of treatment -- you are just 'swapping dollars' with the insurer. I purchase in-patient coverage only in Thailand and it has served me well.

Agree. Complete inpatient coverage is essential though, in my book. My daughter recently needed care that approached $600-700K all told. Gawd knows where we'd be without good coverage.

[Pib]

Tricare Standard Overseas (for U.S. military retirees and their dependents). Pays 75% of allowable costs; your cost share is 25%. A few items are reimbursed at 100%/no cost share. No yearly premium with an annual deductible of $150 per individual/$300 for entire family. And there is a yearly family catastrophic cap of 3,000 USD. Generally, you can use any hospital/doctor without preapproval. You have to pay the 100% of the bill when checking out of the hospital, but there are about 10 hospitals in Thailand (mostly in Bangkok) that have an agreement with Tricare that the hospitals will not require 100% payment on checkout; instead, you pay 25% of the bill, they issue you a total bill for claim submission purposes, and will wait X-amount of months for you to submit your claim to Tricare for your 75% reimbursement...then you go back and pay the hospital the outstanding amount...or they start legal action against your. This reimbursement agreement is on a preapproval basis with the hospital. But generally, Tricare Standard boils down to 75% reimbursement for allowable charges after the yearly deductible is met; and usually 100% payment on hosptial/clinic checkout unless the hospital/clinic are willing to trust you and wait for you to file your claim, get reimbused, and pay the outstanding bill amount.