I am moving back to Thailand at the end of this year after retiring from work. As you get older you realise that you arent 10 ft tall and bullet-proof anymore. I am 54 and would now like to purchase health insurance. Is there any recommendations of places to get quotes for insurance. I have had a quick look at the insurance part of TV but would like something to compare with. Im not really sure of what level to insure for.

Thanks for any advice

First of all, congratulations on realizing this is an essential consideration. an astonishing number of expats move to Thailand without giving any thought to health care expenses and over the years I have seen quite a few really tragic situations as a result.

Probably the most widely used private medical insurance in Thailand is BUPA. It's gotten mixed reviews, some positive, some negative, from TV members so I suggest you do a search in both the health and the Insurance forums to read various accounts. personally i have it and the only time I had to make a claim (my policy is hospitalization only) there was no problem. However since that time whenever I have upgraded my level of coverage (as I have done twice), a rider was attached that froze coverage for anything relating to that one claim at the level I had when that claim was incurred. To make a long story short, whether you go with BUPA or any other company, get a high level of cover from the start as it may not be easy/possible to upgrade later.

BUPA guarantees lifetime coverage if you enroll before a certain age and keep up the payments. I forget what that age was and also do not know if other companies offer this as well.

Health care costs in Thailand have increased dramatically in recent years and don't seem to be going anywhere but further up. I recommend not less than 5 million baht per illness coverage. For some odd reason most of the packages offered by Thailand based companies offer very low levels of cover and this has not at all kept up with rising costs. In the case of BUPA I seem to recall that their top end package (Platinum) was not even listed on their website, I found it only after calling and talking to a representative.

Another point to consider, if you will be travelling at all, is whether a policy will also cover you outside Thailand. The BUPA platinum will for all countries except the US.

And lastly, some plans will allow direct builling by hospitals and some will reimburse you after the fact, another point to take into account.

I'm moving this to the insurance forum as i think you'll get more input there than you will here.

Correct me if i'm wrong but don't you have to be under 50 years of age to start a private healthcare insurance package?

Consider yourself corrected!

Correct me if i'm wrong but don't you have to be under 50 years of age to start a private healthcare insurance package?

Depending on which company/plan one chooses, one can start a medical plan >65 without even a medical. With a medical >70 is usual but we have started new customers of 78 years !

For an on-line quote and details of all plans available use the Thai Visa Broker service HERE