As An Expat Do You Have Health Insurance?

[AsiaCheese]

Agree,important to have health cover here.Its only insurance against something happening,but you never know.

If you dont have cover,this is what can happen.

(1)get taken to a private hospital,who will not help you unless you can prove funds.

(2)land up in a public hospital,where you will still have to pay,but not so much as a private hospital,however most of these public hospitals do not have the facilities or funds to keep you alive.

(3) the only time you get lucky without cover is if you are able enough to fly out(hopefully you can afford the fare)to your home country.

(4)you should not rely on others to bail you out,as the costs can go on ad infinitum,thats why poor thais do not try and help their own relatives in public hospitals because they know its throwing good money after bad,money they will never see again,knowing the relative will probably not live anyway.

Went to public hospital. My appendix burst. Was there for 10 days. Total cost for operation and private room and follow up care including biopsy of appendix 38,000 baht.

I have also been to two other public hospitals for minor things stayed for a day or three. Cost less than 4000 baht for private room and tests.

With all due respect you are in error.

An appendix isn't a "big story" even for an under-funded public hospital, whereas something major might just be -- that's where the difference between live and die might just come in... Public hospitals do their best with whatever equipment they have, but are no comparison to private hospitals (there just has to be a justification for the massively higher prices there, right?).

My health insurance doesn't kick in before the bill runs up to US$ 2,000, which is okay with me. I expect to be able to pay out of pocket for anything below that, but if/when the <deleted> hits the proverbial fan -- such as with a heart attack or similar, major stuff -- there's no upper limit above the $2,000, which makes me sleep one heluva lot better than with all the limitations I see in other expat insurances offered in Thailand...!

[bkk_mike]

I have insurance through my employer, but it's AIA in Hong Kong and they're a pain when the invoice from the hospital isn't exactly the way they want it.

i.e. They didn't pay out on a root canal (which is covered under my policy) because the invoice simply gave a single figure for everything, including the crown (which isn't covered).