can anyone recommend a good policy but within a teachers budget i dont get health care with my job is there a clinic you can attend and just pay as and when? whats the best thanks

It very much depends on your age - and if you are the Head teacher or a newbie from the budget viewpoint

Have you checked to make sure you have the SS coverage from the school ?

I have just purchased a policy for me and my wife at Bupa at just a little over 20.000 baht a year (per policy), this comes to some 1800 per month.

For a start, if you need care you can simply go to any hospital or clinic and pay without insurance, no problem.

Next up, Social Security is the best if you're on a budget and working here, paying tax with a work permit. You'll get it through your work and they'll deduct the monthly contribution or you can find the nearest office and pay yourself. You'll have a designated hospital and when you go to see the doctor you'll have to wait with all the other Thai's who have no insurance. SS is extremely valuable; you'll always receive treatment and it covers almost everything for free or mostly free, even IPD albeit to possibly a lower quality, with shared rooms and longer waits for scheduled operations. There are no pre-existing condition clauses and you can partially use it even for non-accident related surgery.

A step up from this would be private health insurance. You can get a quote from Thai visa and the popular teaching website ajarn dot com offers some sort of scheme which may be suitable. Finally, approach any insurance company for a quote and compare the premiums and benefits. When judging affordability, the only financially painful time is paying the initial premium. Making monthly savings thereafter is quite manageable, even on a shoestring-type budget.

Try Deves Insurance. 28,000 baht for 5 years. I have used it for visiting private hospital eg Lump removed, Shingles diagnosed and cured. I was surprised at how much I got back.

For minor queries and "womans things" I use a local clinic and pay 100-200 baht per visit.There is always a doctor on duty and generally they recognise "the farang" and I usually have very little waiting time. Hope that helps.